BOP Jettisons Transgender Offender Manual
In a memo dated February 25, 2025, acting federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director William Lothrop canceled the agency’s Transgender Offender Manual and ordered its removal from federal prison libraries and the BOP intranet. The move is the latest attempt to comply with an Executive Order issued by incoming Pres. Donald J. Trump (R), which deleted protections for trans prisoners and ordered them moved to prisons that match their sex at birth.
As PLN reported, Trump’s directive drew an immediate legal challenge from a trans prisoner at a Massachusetts lockup. A federal judge issued a restraining order to block her removal to a men’s prison in late January 2025. [See: PLN, Mar. 2025, p.43.] In a second suit filed in federal court for the District of Columbia, 12 more trans women held by the BOP were also granted a restraining order and temporary injunction to the removal policy on February 24, 2025. See: Doe v. Bondi, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35007 (D.D.C.).
The manual that BOP tore up the next day had provided guidance to staff in treating trans prisoners in a manner consistent with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, 42 U.S.C. ch. 147 § 15601. et seq. Recognizing the “increased risk of suicide, mental health issues and victimization of transgender inmates,” their housing placements were considered on a “case-by-case basis” to “ensure the inmate’s health and safety.” They were also protected from searches by guards who didn’t share their expressed gender, and staffers were prohibited from deliberately misgendering prisoners.
Under the new BOP guidelines, staff must “refer to individuals by their legal name or pronouns corresponding to their biological sex,” and search accommodations “are no longer authorized.” Also banned: “clothing accommodations,” including “undergarments that do not align with an inmate’s biological sex.” Prisoners who have purchased such items from the commissary will be allowed to keep them, though—reversing moves earlier in the month by some wardens to confiscate them.
Sources: The Intercept, NPR News
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Related legal case
Doe v. Bondi
| Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cite | 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 35007 (D.D.C.) |
| Level | District Court |