Is a Rainbow Pink or Blue? Creating Jail Policies for Transgender Inmates

Author

Hunter SchultzFollow

Date

2-25-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Human Services

Abstract

The United States prison system functions on a binary of male and female inmates. Transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and intersex individuals challenge the limits of these systems and their policies. This paper addresses how to create policy for transgender individuals and what the policies should include. The best practice for creating policies involves basing them in solid ethics. Looking at different ethical theories will help solve ethical dilemmas involving housing, searching, and other policies for transgender and gender non-conforming inmates. To ensure that policies coincide with the law, an examination of case law provides the legal background for these policies. By looking at several different cases involving transgender inmates suing detention facilities over failing to provide sex reassignment surgeries, administration developing policies can avoid violating the eighth amendment rights of detainees. Effective policy for transgender individuals can provide guidelines for correctional facilities in changing times. Examining and using policy development steps, we can use the Prison Rape Elimination Act to determine what needs to be considered when writing these policies.

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