A federal judge has ruled that Oregon must house transgender women in prisons according to their gender identity, rather than the sex they were assigned at birth.
The ruling marks a direct challenge to a policy introduced under Donald Trump and comes as part of a class action lawsuit filed by two transgender women who are currently incarcerated in Oregon.
US Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke issued a preliminary injunction requiring Oregon officials to move away from the default practice of placing transgender women in men’s prisons. Instead, the state must conduct individualised safety assessments for each transgender woman in custody, as reported by The Oregonian.
Clarke said housing decisions should begin with the presumption that transgender women are placed in facilities that align with their gender identity, unless a specific review finds otherwise.
“It is undisputed in the record before the Court that this default presumption, and their overwhelming placement in men’s prisons, has exposed transgender women inmates to a high risk of violence and sexual assault.
“The undisputed facts additionally show that ODOC has systemically failed to appropriately address this exposure,” Clarke wrote in his ruling.
The injunction requires the Oregon Department of Corrections to assess transgender women’s placements on a case-by-case basis, with safety and gender identity at the centre of the process.
The lawsuit argues that the current approach has left transgender women vulnerable to harm in men’s prisons. Clarke’s ruling indicates that the court found serious concerns with how the state has handled those risks.
The decision is likely to be closely watched as prison policies for transgender people remain a contested issue across the United States, particularly amid broader political efforts to restrict recognition of transgender identities in public institutions.
