Donald Trump’s executive order supposedly meant to protect women only exposes one of the most vulnerable groups to sexual assault and gender-based violence.
Provisions in one of the first orders signed by Trump mandate that transgender women be housed in men’s prisons by stripping protections for trans prisoners in the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
The PREA was passed unanimously by both parties in Congress in 2003, aiming to “provide for the analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape in federal, state, and local institutions and to provide information, resources, recommendations and funding to protect individuals from prison rape,” while recognizing the “particular vulnerabilities of inmates who are LGBTI or whose appearance or manner does not conform to traditional gender expectations.”
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Guidelines issued in 2012 required officials who were “deciding whether to assign a transgender or intersex inmate to a facility for male or female inmates, and in making other housing and programming assignments” to “consider on a case-by-case basis whether a placement would ensure the inmate’s health and safety, and whether the placement would present management or security problems.”
The policy also mandated that “inmate’s own views with respect to his or her own safety shall be given serious consideration,” and that “assignments for each transgender or intersex inmate shall be reassessed at least twice each year to review any threats to safety experienced by the inmate.”
Trump’s order specifically calls to overturn the provisions meant to prevent assault against trans people, mandating that federal agencies “ensure that males are not detained in women’s prisons or housed in women’s detention centers, including through amendment, as necessary, of Part 115.41 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations [the Prison Rape Elimination Act] and interpretation guidance regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act.”
The policy forbids trans women from being housed in women’s facilities, but it does not address trans men nor forbid them from being housed in men’s facilities. Despite the PREA’s guidelines, the vast majority of incarcerated trans people in America are still housed in facilities based on their sex assigned at birth, a 2020 investigation from NBC News found.
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While there is no evidence to suggest the presence of trans women in women’s spaces endangers other women, transgender inmates are 10 times more likely to report being sexually victimized than other prisoners, federal data shows. More than half of nearly 300 surveyed incarcerated trans people reported being sexually assaulted during their current prison sentences, according to a February report, with over 31 percent saying violence from fellow prisoners is the primary reason they feel unsafe.
There are approximately 1.6 million people in the U.S. ages 13 and up who identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute, accounting for just 0.6 percent of the overall population. There are about 5,000 incarcerated transgender people in the country, the NBC report found, accounting for just 0.4 percent of the 1,230,100 inmates recorded nationally in 2021.
In federal prisons, there are about 1,500 trans women, the Bureau of Prisons reports, accounting for 15 percent of women in federal prisons. There are about 750 trans men out of the 144,000 men in federal prisons.
Julie Abbate, national advocacy director at Just Detention International, an organization that works to end sexual abuse in prisons and jails, said in a statement that the order is “life-threatening” and will have “immediate consequences to the actual lives and physical, sexual, and social well-being of any transgender person, including those who are locked up.”
“People will die,” Abbate said. “It’s unconscionable the President of the United States has issued this order. It’s just unconscionable in its cruelty.”
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