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Fifth Circuit Holds Defendants Entitled to Sovereign Immunity For Denial of Sex-Reassignment Surgery to Texas Prisoner
by Matt Clarke
On July 30, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated orders denying sovereign immunity to some defendants in a lawsuit brought by a transgender Texas prisoner seeking access to sex-reassignment surgery, female commissary items, and a long-hair pass.
Texas …
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More from this issue:
- Wrongfully Convicted Man Freed for Murder of Oregon DOC Director, But State Wants Him Back In Prison, by Mark Wilson
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Indiana DOC Settles HRDC Mail Censorship Suit, by Chuck Sharman
- HRDC Represents Wrongfully Convicted Florida Man Who Spent 37 Years in Prison for a Rape Murder He Did Not Commit, by Chuck Sharman
- Fifth Circuit Overturns Permanent Injunction Requiring Texas Prison to Observe COVID-19 Precautions, by Matthew Clarke
- Arizona Auditor’s Report Finds Underfunding of DOC’s Capital Funding Requests and Unreconciled Prisoner Trust Fund Accounts, by Matthew Clarke
- $750,000 Settlement in South Carolina Pretrial Detainee’s Suicide by Southern Health Partners, by David Reutter
- Preliminary Injunction Bars Arkansas from Confiscating Prisoners’ COVID Stimulus Money, by David Reutter
- Washington State Prison Chief Secretly Forced to Retire, But Why?
- Benevolent or Predatory?, by Casey Bastian
- Georgia Sheriff Suspended After Indictment on Federal Civil Rights Charges, by David Reutter
- Language Matters: Why We Use the Words We Do, by Paul Wright
- What’s in a Name?, by Jeffrey Ross
- Louisiana Prisoners Used as Slave Labor During Hurricane Ida, Families Left in the Dark for Weeks, by Brian Dolinar
- Will Federal Prisoners on Home Confinement Have to Return to Prison?, by Dale Chappell
- Seven Guards Fired Over Collins County Texas Jail Death, by Jayson Hawkins
- Kentucky’s Prison HCV Policy of Monitoring Without Treatment Constitutional, by David Reutter
- All Massachusetts Jails to Provide Prisoners Ten Free Minutes of Phone Calls Per Week and Cap Charges on Additional Minutes at 14 Cents
- Federal District Court Orders All CDCR Employees be Vaccinated, by Douglas Ankney
- Company Surveils Activists Opposing Construction of Prisons and Jails, by Keith Sanders
- Louisville Jail Moves to Have Free Phone Calls for Prisoners by First of the Year, by Kevin Bliss
- Hackers Breach Thousands of Security Cameras, by David Reutter
- First Prisoner Elected to Hold Public Office in Washington DC, by Kevin Bliss
- Wisconsin Feels Effects of Staffing Shortage in State Prisons, by Kevin Bliss
- $72,000 Settlement Over Corizon’s Lack of Medical Treatment to Injured Arizona Prisoner, by Matthew Clarke
- Eleventh Circuit Upholds Immunity of Federal Prison Guards Under FTCA, Even for Blatant Unconstitutional Acts, by Dale Chappell
- Weeks Without a Shower: Neglect Defines COVID-19 Containment in California Jails, by Brian Osgood
- Audit Reveals Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Chaplaincy Services Branch Critically Depleted, by Casey Bastian
- To End Mass Incarceration, We Need to Bust the Myths That Prop It Up, by James Kilgore
- CFPB Hits JPay with $6 Million in Fines and Restitution Over Fee-Heavy “Debit Release Cards”, by Chuck Sharman
- HRDC Prevails Over Wellpath as Vermont Supreme Court Rules Private Contractor Must Release Public Records, by David Reutter
- Eleven Guards Fired after Death at Houston Jail, by Brian Dolinar
- Indiana Prisoner Entitled to Credit Time During Period of Erroneous Liberty, by David Reutter
- Second Circuit Reversed Dismissal of Former BOP Prisoner’s FTCA Claim Against Dentist, by David Reutter
- $731,000 Jury Award to Illinois DOC Prisoner Held 23 Months Beyond Release Date, Over $210k in Fees Awarded As Well, by David Reutter
- Eighth Circuit Clarifies Legal Standards for Conditions-of-Confinement Lawsuits Brought by Civilly-Committed Sex Offenders, by Matthew Clarke
- Prisoner Voting Population Grows as Illinois Bill Extends Polling Sites to County Jails
- Massachusetts Department of Corrections Sued Over Use of “Fake” Drug Tests on Legal Mail, by Casey Bastian
- Seventh Circuit: Local Rules Requiring Specific Filings to Summary Judgments Should Not be Used as a Sanction, by Dale Chappell
- Michigan DOC Eases Up on Pregnant Prisoners, Limits Shackles and Solitary Confinement, by Chuck Sharman
- D.C. Federal Court Rules District Providing Unlawfully Inadequate Education to Incarcerated Youth with Disabilities, Grants Preliminary Injunction, by Matthew Clarke
- Prison Officials Actions to Correct Inhumane Cell Conditions Merit Judgement in Their Favor
- $129,000 Bench Verdict for BOP Prisoner in Failure to Warn of Valley Fever
- Lawsuit Over Denial of Medical Treatment for Painful Erection Causing Impotence in Oklahoma County Jail Reinstated by Tenth Circuit, by Matthew Clarke
- CoreCivic Prison at Center of Georgia Drug Trafficking Investigation
- Fifth Circuit Holds Defendants Entitled to Sovereign Immunity For Denial of Sex-Reassignment Surgery to Texas Prisoner, by Matthew Clarke
- Sixth Circuit Holds Court Lacked Jurisdiction to Rule on Summary Judgment in Retaliation Suit by BOP Prisoner
- California Fire Crew Prisoner’s Escape Attempt Leaves Trail of Destruction
- $5,000 Award for Pro Se Florida DOC Prisoner in Unjustified Pepper Spraying
- Oregon Suspends Outside Prisoner Work Crews After Prisoner Escape Sparks International Incident, by Mark Wilson
- Forced Shaving of Muslim Colorado Prisoner’s Beard Unconstitutional, by David Reutter
- Broward County Florida Sheriff Rejects Independent Reviews of Detainee’s Death
- $8.6 Million Award Against Wexford for Deliberate Indifference to Prisoner’s Kidney Cancer
- $170,000 Settlement By New Jersey DOC in Transgender Lawsuit With New Policy, by Jayson Hawkins
- Arizona Federal Court Dismisses NAACP’s Challenge to Private Prisons as Violating Thirteenth Amendment by Commodifying Prisoners for Profit
- Fifth Circuit Holds Confessed Medical Malpractice Does Not Insulate Prison Medical Providers From Finding of Deliberate Indifference, by Matthew Clarke
- $23,000 Settlement Against Pennsylvania Dental Healthcare Company for Inadequate Dental Care
- News in Brief
More from Matthew Clarke:
- Federal Court Grants HRDC Preliminary Injunction Against Mail Censorship at New Mexico Jail, May 1, 2026
- Faced with Record-Breaking Jail Deaths, L.A. County Supervisors Tell Sheriff’s Department to Improve Access to Naloxone, Camera Monitoring, and Security Checks at California Jail, May 1, 2026
- Federal Court Places Medical Care in Arizona Prisons Under Receivership, May 1, 2026
- Seventh Circuit Upholds Liability but Reverses Damages in Lawsuit Over Illinois Warden and Investigator Using Prisoner as Bait to Catch Staff Member Raping Her, May 1, 2026
- Texas Moves to Restrict Cashless Bond and Reverse Federal Court-Ordered Misdemeanor Bail Reform, May 1, 2026
- In Texas, Harris County Commissioners Approve $1.2 Million for Fourth Study of Jail Since 2020 After Dozens of Abuse Allegations, April 1, 2026
- Texas Attorney General Clarifies Scope of Statute Requiring Outside Agency Investigation of Jail Deaths, April 1, 2026
- D.C. Judge Blocks Transfer of Biden-Commuted Federal Death Row Prisoners to “Supermax,” Citing Lack of Meaningful Due Process, April 1, 2026
- Eighth Circuit Revives Lawsuit Over Iowa Jail Detainee’s Suicide, April 1, 2026
- Groundbreaking Statistical Study of Pregnant Texas Jail Detainees Finds Over 400 Monthly, April 1, 2026
More from these topics:
- The Legal Fight for Homeowner Compensation After SWAT Raids, Dec. 15, 2025. Sovereign Immunity, Fifth Amendment, Constitution, state, Destruction of Property.
- $95,000 Settlement for Trans BOP Prisoner Assaulted by Cellmate in Arizona Lockup, Dec. 1, 2025. Snitch Jacketing, Failure to Protect (General), Physical Injury Rule, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Transgender Medical Procedures, Discrimination (Transgender), Failure to Protect (Transgender).
- North Carolina Prison Officials Run Out the Clock On Trans Prisoner’s Vulvoplasty, Nov. 1, 2025. Failure to Treat, Attorney Fees (PLRA), Transgender Medical Procedures, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Deliberate Indifference.
- Federal Government, CoreCivic Slow-Walk Class-Action Challenges to Forced Labor of ICE Detainees, Nov. 1, 2025. Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Prison Labor, Class Certification, Class Notice, Sovereign Immunity, Immigration Detention.
- $100,000 Settlement Reached Between Imprisoned BOP Guard and Prisoners He Raped, Nov. 1, 2025. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Retaliatory Segregation, Federal Tort Claims Act, Sovereign Immunity, Adequacy of Remedy.
- Former Prisoners’ Challenge to Virginia Constitution’s Felony Disenfranchisement Clause Allowed to Proceed, Nov. 1, 2025. Injunctions, Federal Statutory Law, Voting Rights Act, Sovereign Immunity, Constitutional Challenges/Law, Felon Disenfranchisement Statute, Prison Regulations.
- Trans Kentucky Prisoner Loses Bid to Block State’s New Ban on Hormone Replacement Therapy, Nov. 1, 2025. Medication, Transgender Medical Procedures, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Need for Medical Consensus, Deliberate Indifference.
- Sixth Circuit Clarifies What Constitutes PLRA “Strike” and Reinstates Michigan Prisoner’s Lawsuit, Nov. 1, 2025. Filing Fees (PLRA), Frivolous Litigation, Sovereign Immunity, Access To Courts.
- Trans BOP Prisoners Win Restraining Order Preventing Transfer to Men’s Prison, Discontinuation of Hormone Therapy Medication, July 15, 2025. Transfers, Transgender, Transgender Medical Procedures.
- Ninth Circuit Remands Transgender Idaho Prisoner’s $2.63 Million Attorney Fee Award for Recalculation— Against Bankrupt Corizon Health Successor, March 1, 2025. Corizon, Settlements, Transgender Medical Procedures, Criminal Justice Act (CJA).

