Utah prison discriminated against transgender inmate, US Justice Department says

By Pat Reavy

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    SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (KSL) — The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday announced an investigation into the Utah Department of Corrections has found that a transgender inmate was discriminated against by prison administrators who refused to give her proper hormonal therapy, or in a timely fashion.

“The Utah Department of Corrections violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by discriminating against an incarcerated transgender woman on the basis of her disability, gender dysphoria. The department’s investigation found that UDOC failed to provide the complainant (who identifies as female but was assigned male at birth) equal access to health care services after she repeatedly requested hormone therapy. UDOC also failed to make reasonable modifications to its policies and practices to treat the complainant’s gender dysphoria,” according to a prepared statement from the Justice Department.

The department says gender dysphoria is a “serious medical condition” which can cause “serious adverse mental health outcomes” unless treated. “Left untreated, individuals with gender dysphoria can experience significant adverse health outcomes, including risk of suicide and surgical self-mutilation,” according to the U.S. Justice Department’s open letter to the corrections department.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Brian Redd, the executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections, responded with a brief prepared statement.

“We have been working to address this complex issue, and were blindsided by today’s public announcement from the Department of Justice. We have also taken steps on our own, and as a state, to address the needs of inmates while maintaining the highest safety standards. We fundamentally disagree with the DOJ on key issues, and are disappointed with their approach,” the statement said.

The woman entered the Utah State Prison system in 2021. Before being incarcerated, she had already experienced symptoms of gender dysphoria, the letter states.

“Her medical condition became increasingly worse while in custody, surrounded only by men, and lacking control over her daily life and health care,” the Justice Department said.

The federal government notes the Utah Department of Corrections requires inmates identifying as transgender to first request an evaluation by staffers.

“(Her) access to medically necessary care for her disability was unnecessarily delayed due to UDOC’s biased and prolonged approval process. It took UDOC nine months to provide (her) with a diagnostic assessment for gender dysphoria and another six months to prescribe her hormone therapy, despite her submitting repeated follow-up requests and grievances,” according to the Justice Department.

And when the Utah Department of Corrections finally gave the OK for her to start medical treatment, the doctor assigned to her “tried to talk her out of pursuing the hormone therapy that she had been seeking for 15 months,” the Justice Department said. And when the physician began giving therapy, he “failed to take basic steps to ensure that it was provided safely and effectively.”

Additionally, despite her requests, prison officials did not allow the inmate to receive prison-issued clothing for women, be housed in the women’s unit, or be searched by women instead of men.

“When those requests were ignored or rejected, she filed grievances and appeals. These, too, were ignored or rejected,” the Justice Department said.

The department says the woman’s gender dysphoria worsened during her incarceration, to the point that 22 months after being taken into custody, “and after enduring repeated delays and denials of her requests for disability-related care and reasonable modifications, (she) performed dangerous self-surgery and removed her own testicles.”

Information about the woman, such as her age and what she was incarcerated for and her condition now, were not immediately available.

The Justice Department says for the Utah Department of Corrections to not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act any further, it should revise policies regarding gender dysphoria, give better training to employees, give the Justice Department access to its facilities and files, and “pay compensatory damages to (the woman) and provide otherwise appropriate relief.”

“We hope to work together with you to resolve this matter cooperatively through a court-enforceable consent decree that brings (the corrections department) into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. If we are unable to reach such a resolution, the attorney general may initiate a lawsuit,” the letter concludes.

“All people with disabilities including those who are incarcerated are protected by the ADA and are entitled to reasonable modifications and equal access to medical care, and that basic right extends to those with gender dysphoria,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a prepared statement.

Correction: Brian Redd is the executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections. An earlier version incorrectly identified him as Rudd.

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