Tell our Congresspeople: Stop BOP from Putting Trans Women in Men’s Prisons
Call BOTH of your Senators.
Call ONE of the Representatives. Note: only one of these Congressmembers represents you. Find out which one here.
[Trigger warning: The background for this script contains several mentions of sexual violence.]
Context
The Bureau of Prisons is the federal agency that runs federal prisons across the country. These facilities are segregated by gender, in part for the safety of those inmates.
Under Trump, the BOP is looking to move trans inmates who are currently in facilities that align with their gender over to facilities according to their birth-assigned sex—so, trans women will be in men’s prisons and vice versa. This will subject those inmates to sexual and other violence purely for being trans. Their access to gender-affirming healthcare (particularly hormone therapy) will also be cut off.
This is a nakedly anti-trans move that is part of implementing Trump’s anti-trans executive order. People in the government’s care should be protected, not exposed to even greater violence that can’t be undone.
The Ask
Senators Schiff and Padilla:
Hello, my name is ____. I am a constituent from ZIP code ____ and a member of Indivisible SF. I am calling because I strongly oppose the Federal Bureau of Prisons moving trans women to men's prison and putting them at much higher risk of sexual violence. I ask that the Senator do everything in his power to make BOP stop this, including obstructing the Senate Judiciary Committee until the move is halted.
Rep. Pelosi or Mullin:
Hello, my name is ____. I am a constituent from ZIP code ____ and a member of Indivisible SF. I am calling because I strongly oppose the Federal Bureau of Prisons moving trans women to men's prison and putting them at much higher risk of sexual violence. I ask that the Representative do everything in his/her power to make BOP stop this.
Background
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is the federal agency that operates federal prisons across the country. These facilities are segregated by gender, in part for the safety of those inmates.
However, this protection hasn’t been applied to most transgender people in federal prison. According to BOP (via NPR), 99% of trans inmates are in a facility for the wrong gender—placed according to their sex assigned at birth, not their actual gender.
Under Trump’s executive order denying the existence of transgender people, the BOP is looking to move the remaining trans inmates who are currently in facilities that align with their gender over to facilities according to their birth-assigned sex—so, all trans women will be in men’s prisons and vice versa.
This will subject those inmates to sexual and other violence purely for being trans. There’s even a history of prison authorities themselves encouraging the subjugation and rape of transgender prisoners, a practice called V-coding.
This is unconstitutional under a court decision called Farmer v. Brennan, in which the Supreme Court held that prison officials being deliberately indifferent to a substantial risk of serious harm constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth Amendment.
Inmates’ access to gender-affirming healthcare (particularly hormone replacement therapy, or HRT) will also be cut off. Just as gender-affiming care realizes people’s right to be who they are, taking it away constitutes a denial of that right.
And let’s not miss the intersectionality here: ICE is looking at using federal prisons as detention centers, so in addition to punishing existing federal prisoners for being trans, this policy will also apply to transgender immigrants taken into detention.
This is a nakedly anti-trans move that is part of implementing Trump’s anti-trans executive order. People in the government’s care should be protected, not exposed to even greater violence that can’t be undone. Being in prison should be the limit of that punishment; to add gender dysphoria and rape to that crosses the line into cruel and unusual.
References
Federal prisons prep to move trans inmates as early as this week, NPR, Feb 25, 2025
Trump's Executive Orders Promoting Sex Discrimination, Explained, ACLU, Jan 22, 2025
Trump administration turning these prisons into ICE lockups, leaked memo shows, KTVU, Feb 15, 2025
V-coding [CW: rape], Wikipedia