The Justice Department under the Biden administration has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state of Utah and the Department of Corrections. male prisoner The man, who claims to be female, allegedly had his testicles surgically removed after so-called “gender-affirming” care was denied or delayed.
The case concerns an unnamed Utah inmate who has been incarcerated since July 2021 on an unknown conviction. A “visual examination of his genitals” led prison officials to transfer the inmate to a men’s prison, but the inmate was already suffering from “many years of symptoms of gender dysphoria,” the Justice Department said. letter of findings It was released last month.
An official diagnosis of gender dysphoria was not made by a Utah DOC psychologist until June 2022, even though the inmate had sought gender-related medical intervention, including cross-sex treatment. is a disability covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Justice Department argued. Hormones since last September. Hormones were eventually administered, but they were not administered “safely or effectively.” lawsuit he claimed.
The Justice Department argued that inmates were also denied other “reasonable modifications” to UDOC’s policies and practices. According to the Department of Justice, these “reasonable changes” include placement in women’s facilities, the ability to purchase women’s underwear such as bras and panties at a kiosk, and the ability to have women walk around and search people rather than male guards. It is said to include receiving.
Finally, gender-related issues prevented the inmates from completing the UDOC program, which would have helped reduce their sentences, the lawsuit claimed.
Denying these accommodations exacerbated the inmates’ gender dysphoria while incarcerated, the Justice Department argued. “Prison has caused me great mental stress in the form of anxiety and depression because I have not been given the opportunity to live life as a woman, which I believe to be a woman and have lived for many years,” the inmate wrote in a statement. I wrote it in I filed a complaint with the ADA.
The inmate’s anxiety and stress eventually led him to take matters into his own hands, the lawsuit states. It was removed, resulting in hospitalization and additional surgery.”
The lawsuit seeks to compensate inmates for “injuries caused by violations of the ADA,” improve treatment for inmates’ gender dysphoria, and review policies and procedures to prevent similar discrimination against inmates and other gender dysphoric inmates. I’m looking for.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark of the Department of Justice said, “All individuals with disabilities, including those who are incarcerated, are protected by the ADA and are entitled to reasonable modifications and equal access to health care; “These rights also extend to people with gender dysphoria.” Civil Rights Division. “The Office for Civil Rights works to ensure that prisons and jails across the country do not discriminate against people with disabilities, and that those rights include people with gender dysphoria.”
In response to last month’s findings, the UDOC Executive Director said: brian red He claimed his agency had been “blindsided” by the charges laid out there. “We fundamentally disagree with the Department of Justice on important issues and are disappointed in their approach,” he added.
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