SALT LAKE CITY — Just three weeks after the U.S. Justice Department announced that an investigation into the Utah Department of Corrections found a transgender inmate was discriminated against by prison administrators, the Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the state.
The U.S. Justice Department alleges that Utah and its corrections department violated the Americans with Disabilities Act “against an incarcerated transgender woman on the basis of her disability, gender dysphoria,” according to a prepared statement.
“The department’s complaint alleges that (the Utah Department of Corrections) failed to provide the complainant equal access to health care services after she repeatedly requested hormone therapy, and also failed to make reasonable modifications to its policies and practices to treat her gender dysphoria,” the U.S. government alleges.
Corrections administrators on Tuesday stated that “because it is pending litigation, we have no additional comment at this time,” and referred to their prior statement.
Three weeks ago, when the Justice Department announced the findings of its investigation, Brian Redd, the executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections, responded by saying, “We have been working to address this complex issue, and were blindsided by today’s public announcement from the Department of Justice. We have also taken steps on our own, and as a state, to address the needs of inmates while maintaining the highest safety standards. We fundamentally disagree with the DOJ on key issues, and are disappointed with their approach.”
In July 2021, a transgender woman with gender dysphoria was incarcerated at the Utah State Prison. The lawsuit states her condition is recognized as a disability “because her gender dysphoria is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of her major life activities.”
Medical records from the prison in September 2021 list the inmate as “having ‘gender identity disorder issues’ and note that she is seeking treatment including hormone therapy,” the lawsuit states.
Nine months after entering the prison, after making multiple requests for hormone therapy, the woman was given a “diagnostic evaluation for gender dysphoria by a contract psychologist,” according to the lawsuit.
Still, she did not receive hormone therapy until January 2023, or “17 months after she initially requested that treatment and more than six months after she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria,” the lawsuit states. And when the state did begin therapy, “it did not do so safely or effectively.”
“(Her) access to care for her gender dysphoria was contingent on a biased and unnecessarily prolonged approval process,” the lawsuit continued.
In addition to hormone therapy, the woman also “sought reasonable modifications (to prison policies) including to be permitted to purchase female clothing and personal items in the commissary, to modify pat search policies, and to individually assess her housing requests to avoid discrimination on the basis of gender dysphoria,” according to the lawsuit, which claims the corrections department “denied virtually all of (her) American with Disabilities requests.”
The woman’s gender dysphoria worsened while she was incarcerated, according to the lawsuit, and “in May 2023, (she) performed dangerous self-surgery and removed her own testicles, resulting in hospitalization and additional surgery.”
The lawsuit seeks for the Utah Department of Corrections to modify its policies and procedures and provide better training for staff members in addition to compensatory damages to the woman.
“People with gender dysphoria, including those held in jails and prisons, are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act and are entitled to equal access to medical care just like anyone else with a disability,” assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a prepared statement. “Delays or refusals to provide medical treatment for people with gender dysphoria can cause irreparable harm, including debilitating distress, depression, attempts at self-treatment and even death by suicide.”
Three weeks ago, the Justice Department announced in an open letter that it hoped to work with the corrections department “to resolve this matter cooperatively through a court-enforceable consent decree that brings (the corrections department) into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. If we are unable to reach such a resolution, the attorney general may initiate a lawsuit.”
Information about the woman, such as her age and what she was incarcerated for and her condition now, was not immediately available.
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