Judge rules transgender prisoners can not be moved to mens facilities

A federal judge’s ruling is halting the transfer of 14 incarcerated transgender women to men's prisons, deciding their relocation would put them at risk for violence, sexual assault, and safety concerns. 

On Sunday, June 7, U.S District Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the prisoners' removal and transfer into men’s prisons. 

The injunction involves several trans women who, in court filings, are claiming to face sexual and physical assault, rape, harassment, and abuse should they be housed in men’s amenities. 

The new ruling blocks Trump’s executive policy requiring federal agencies to solely recognize two sexes and directing prisons to house inmates based on their sex assigned at birth. 

Executive Order 14168 was introduced almost immediately following Trump's presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025. 

Emergency protections for several inmates were extended on May 19, when Judge Royce C. Lamberth renewed a preliminary injunction. However, the appeals court determined that transgender women must be able to prove individual evidence and specified risks to plaintiffs. 

However, Sunday’s decision found that all of the 14 women in question had demonstrated that they are likely to suffer substantial risk of harm should they be transferred. It also requires the Bureau of Prisons to keep housing the women in their current positions while litigation continues. 

Lamberth also criticised the administration’s reasoning that any resulting harm could simply be treated after the fact: “It is fundamentally unreasonable for prison officials to respond to serious risks such as mental health deterioration, self-harm, and suicide by intentionally creating those risks and offering to treat them after they predictably occur.”

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