The White House is considering a policy change that would instruct the Federal Bureau of Prisons to assign inmates to facilities based on their gender identity, according to a report.
The Federalist report, which is based on leaked documents, cites a proposed executive action instructing the U.S. attorney general to “within 30 days of the date of this order, begin the process of identifying any necessary changes to the [Bureau of Prisons] Transgender Offender Manual … to enable BOP to designate individuals to facilities in accordance with their gender identity.”
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The Justice Department has been reviewing policies on transgender inmates, which were altered during each of the last two presidential administrations, but there are concerns about the potential for placing biological men in women’s prisons.
Under the Obama administration, the Bureau of Prisons’s transgender inmate policies called for recommending inmate housing by gender identity “when appropriate.” The Trump administration altered that, instructing the Transgender Executive Council to “use biological sex as the initial determination.” That policy is now under review from Biden’s DOJ.
The White House did not confirm or deny the authenticity of documents in the report, saying, “We don’t comment on alleged leaked documents.”
Under the Trump policy, the Bureau of Prisons is to assign inmates to prisons based on their gender identity only “in rare cases.” A DOJ official told the Associated Press in September that about 1,200 of the 156,000 federal prisoners in the United States identify as transgender.
While the Bureau of Prisons says it’s committed to providing a safe and humane environment for all prisoners, concerns have been raised about assigning biological men to women’s prisons.
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A handful of states already require their corrections departments to house inmates in facilities designed for men or women based on the individual’s gender identity, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington.
