Washington state prisons are now required to provide gender-affirming care to trans inmates

A Seattle judge has issued a consent decree requiring prisons in Washington state to provide improved gender-affirming services to trans inmates.

The settlement – the result of almost four years of negotiations – says that the State Department of Corrections (DOC) must hire a designated MD specializing in gender-affirming medical care. Additionally, the department is required to provide a gender-affirming mental health specialist at all major prisons, with access to telehealth for those at smaller ones. Those who enter prison with a prescription for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) must be able to continue, and trans folks who want to begin HRT in prison will generally have access.

Related:

Philadelphia will become a sanctuary city for gender-affirming care

The city joins a growing number of cities and states creating policies that provide protections to both in- and out-of-state residents.

Officers will also be required to undergo transgender-focused training, and inmates will be able to decide which gender officers will give them pat-downs. The DOC must also provide gender-affirming clothing and other property to trans folks.

Stay connected to your community

Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter.

Daily

Weekly

Good News

As reported by KUOW, the plaintiff in the suit, advocacy group Disability Rights Washington [DRW], has been assessing the state’s treatment of disabled trans inmates and reportedly alleged that trans people have been denied hormone therapy, convinced not to transition, and been subject to strip searches by guards of the opposite gender. Although the organization advocates specifically for those with disabilities, the judge’s order applies to all incarcerated trans folks in Washington.

DRW staff attorney Ethan Frenchman called the settlement “a landmark” since “it explicitly ties prison medical care to community Medicaid standards.”

Frenchman told KUOW it is “one of the best and most comprehensive consent decrees in the country concerning the treatment of transgender people in prison or jail.”

The judge also ordered the state to pay $1.5 million in legal fees for DRW and $300,000 per year for the costs of their attorney’s fees during the three-year monitoring and compliance period.

A statement from DOC Secretary Cheryl Strange – a named defendant in the case – celebrated the changes to come.

“This is a landmark agreement and we look forward to continuing to work closely with DRW to implement it,” Strange said. “We have already made substantial improvements to the gender-affirming care offered to transgender incarcerated individuals in recent years, and this is another step in the right direction.”

A press release from the DOC also touted the improvements to gender-affirming care the DOC has made over the past few years, linking to a comprehensive policy on trans, intersex, and nonbinary individuals established in 2020 and revised several times since.

Frenchman also told KUOW that the DOC conducted its first gender-affirming surgery in 2020.