Press Release  AG Campbell Calls On Court To Protect Incarcerated Transgender People

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today led a coalition of 13 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Jones v. Bondi in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, urging the court to protect the health and safety of incarcerated transgender people. The attorneys general ask the Court to uphold the lower court’s preliminary injunction blocking the Trump Administration from implementing a policy that would remove all discretion of correctional staff to house transgender women in women’s prisons.

“Transgender people – regardless of their involvement in our justice system – deserve safety and dignity. Housing decisions for incarcerated transgender individuals need to be made on a case-by-case basis for their safety and the wellbeing of the entire prison population,” said AG Campbell. “I am proud to lead my colleagues in standing up to the Trump Administration’s cruel and unlawful policies and will continue to fight to protect our residents.”

In 2003, Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), which adopted a zero-tolerance standard for sexual violence that occurs in U.S. prisons and ordered that the prevention of prison rape be made a top priority through the development and implementation of national standards for detection, prevention, reduction, and punishment. In accordance with PREA, many states have adopted their own laws and policies to protect incarcerated transgender people from sexual violence in prisons and jails.  

In Massachusetts, the Criminal Justice Reform Act, passed in 2018, prohibits state and county correctional officials from placing individuals in restrictive housing simply because that person has a gender identity or sexual orientation that is uncommon in the general population. The Act also requires correctional staff to address individuals based on their gender identity, mandates that invasive searches be conducted by an officer of the same gender identity if requested, and instructs facilities to house transgender individuals with those of the same gender identity if it is requested and would not otherwise be detrimental to the health and safety of the individual.  

In an abrupt reversal of its longstanding policy and practice, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) issued a decision to remove all discretion of correctional staff to house any transgender woman in a BOP women’s facility. Jane Jones, a transgender woman, subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its unlawful policy and was granted a preliminary injunction blocking the policy as her case proceeds. The Trump Administration appealed the lower court’s injunction.

In filing this brief, the coalition is fighting to ensure that the rights of transgender individuals remain protected. The attorneys general argue that PREA’s protections are essential to the safety and security of transgender individuals and the prison population as a whole, and that BOP’s blanket policy would harm incarcerated people. In their brief, they ask the court to uphold the lower court’s preliminary injunction.

Joining AG Campbell in submitting this brief were the attorneys general of California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

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