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The new policies from Florida prison officials come in response to SB245, which bans gender-affirming care for minors and the use of state funds on any gender-affirming prescriptions or surgical procedures.
Transgender inmates squared off against their jailers in a Tallahassee courtroom on Monday, claiming the state’s new policies on gender-affirming care behind bars are degrading, dangerous, and a violation of their civil rights, The Marshall Project reports.
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The new policies come in response to Florida’s SB254 passed and signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last year, which restricts gender-affirming care for minors and bans the expenditure of state funds for “sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures.” Represented by the ACLU, the inmates are asking the judge to stop enforcement of the new policies while the state is asking for the suit to be dismissed.
Trans inmates say the new policies were announced at a group meeting in late September. They were later forced to undergo an examination of their naked breast sizes using the Tanner scale, which charts the pubertal growth of sexual genitalia and characteristics. Those who did not meet an undisclosed level of development were forced to surrender their bras. Trans inmates said they were also forced to have their hair cut, including one woman who said she was physically restrained during the ordeal.
Josie Takach, a trans woman who is incarcerated at a men’s facility, told The Marshall Project that a male doctor made her lift her shirt and then wrote some notes without speaking to her. She was told by a nurse not to ask any questions and "to just shut up and do what I’m told,” Takach told the outlet. “It felt like I was being treated less than human.”
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Another trans woman spoke to the outlet about how being forced to cut her hair had affected her.
“[Before] my hair was long enough for a ponytail. Now I have a buzz cut,” Jada Edwards told The Marshall Project. “I’m very sad and depressed. I feel like they’re taking away my identity.”
The suit was filed in October by Reiyn Keohane, a trans woman serving 15 years for attempted murder. She was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at age 16, legally changed her name the following year, and started receiving gender-affirming care at age 19 in August of 2013, one month before she was arrested for the crime for which she is now incarcerated. She filed suit in 2016, ultimately winning her right to receive gender-affirming care and treatment while in prison.
Keohane along with the other plaintiffs fear they will eventually be denied access to their gender-affirming prescriptions.
Dr. Danny Martinez, Chief of Medical Services for the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC), says in court documents the new policies are designed to individually evaluate each inmate to ensure their diagnoses of gender-dysphoria are not misdiagnosed instances of short-term delusions or beliefs subject to change at a later date.
The judge is expected decide if the case can proceed within the coming weeks.
