The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has issued a controversial new memo directing prisons to disregard protections for transgender, non-binary, and intersex inmates under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) — sparking outrage from human rights advocates.
The memo, dated 2 December, was circulated by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and applies to federal, state, and local correctional facilities. It specifically instructs PREA auditors to ignore provisions in the law designed to protect vulnerable inmates based on their gender identity or intersex status.
These provisions include protocols around:
- Screening inmates for risk of sexual victimisation
- Search procedures
- How staff communicate with transgender, intersex or gender non-conforming individuals
- Whether sexual abuse incidents are motivated by an inmate’s gender identity
Anti-trans policy embedded in Trump’s second term
The memo justifies the changes by citing an executive order signed by President Trump on the first day of his second term in January, which mandates:
- People assigned male at birth cannot be held in women’s facilities
- No federal funds are to be used for gender-affirming healthcare (including medical procedures, treatments, or hormone therapies)
- Federal agencies must eliminate any language or material promoting “gender ideology”
The directive reads:
“Effective immediately, applicable federal and non-federal correctional facilities shall not be held to [these] subsections” of PREA.
It also demands the removal of all internal and external policies, messages, or forms that acknowledge gender identity beyond sex assigned at birth.
Backlash from human rights groups
Just Detention International, a human rights organisation focused on ending sexual abuse in detention, condemned the move, warning that it would create “chaos” in correctional facilities.
“These changes will allow rapists to act with impunity,” said executive director Linda McFarlane.
“It is already sowing confusion among prison leaders, who have worked for more than a decade to put in place commonsense rules to end prisoner rape.”“The proposed revisions to the PREA standards will lead to increased violence inside prisons and jails, placing staff and incarcerated people in greater danger.”
The move represents one of the most aggressive anti-trans actions by the Trump administration to date and signals a renewed attack on LGBTQ+ rights, particularly for those behind bars.
