By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Transgender inmates who did not begin treatment prior to entering federal custody can now receive hormones, specialized mental health counseling and possibly gender reassignment surgery while they are in prison, according to new rules adopted by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons as part of a court settlement.
"If somebody doesn't receive treatment, it can lead to very serious incidents of self-harm," said Jennifer Levi, a professor of law at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies at Western New England University in Springfield, Mass. "One of the things that the judge recognized is that there's a lot of public misunderstanding about the experience of transsexualism.
Levi said prison officials have typically been hostile to transgender inmates and that she anticipates more legal action to ensure the bureau's policy is put into practice.
