Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
Rather than continue to ignore the discrepancy between allowing transgender prisoners access to hormone therapy and sexual reassignment surgery while permitting prison administrators to decide whether there is adequate housing to warrant such treatment, courts should enforce the use of such medically necessary treatments when prescribed by a doctor. Although prisons may be justified in their concerns of safety, it is time to amend the structure of the prison industrial complex so that all prisoners are safe and free from abuse. Moving forward, prisons might consider classifying and housing each prisoner on a case-by case basis or constructing non-punitive housing alternatives such as single cells or separate units for all detainees who are at risk of being targeted for sexual assault or who fear being hurt or harassed. Likewise, it might be easiest to house transgender women in women's facilities and transgender men in men's facilities, or at the very least allow those prisoners to choose which facility would provide the highest level of physical and emotional safety for them. Most certainly, however, prison administrators should respect prisoner objections to being paired with a specific cellmate for fear of assault, so that stories like that of Kelly McAllister do not become all too common.
Recommended Citation
Tammi S. Etheridge, Safety v. Surgery: Sex Reassignment Surgery and the Housing of Transgender Inmates, 15 Geo. J. Gender & L. 585 (2014).