Justice Department suspends critical protections for LGBTQ+ people in prisons

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has moved to suspend the enforcement of key regulations designed to protect LGBTQ+ people from sexual violence in prisons. The policy shift halts compliance audits for safety standards specifically intended to shield queer, transgender, and gender-nonconforming detainees from harassment and assault.

A memo issued Tuesday by Tammie Gregg, principal deputy director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, instructed federal auditors to immediately cease monitoring correctional facilities for compliance with LGBTQ-specific protections under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). As reported by The Guardian, prisons and jails will no longer be held administratively accountable by the DoJ for violations regarding the safety and respectful treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals while the department seeks formal revisions to the rules.

The directive targets regulations stemming from PREA, a landmark 2003 federal law passed unanimously by Congress to combat the epidemic of sexual violence behind bars. The suspended standards were originally implemented to address the disproportionate rates of victimization faced by LGBTQ+ individuals in custody.

The memo specifically instructs inspectors to overlook requirements that facilities screen transgender and intersex people for risk of sexual victimization upon housing assignment. Additionally, it suspends enforcement of rules prohibiting invasive genital examinations and discriminatory searches, such as the cross-gender pat-down of transgender women by male officers. Requirements for respectful communication and the mandate that investigators consider a victim’s LGBTQ+ status as a potential motive for abuse are also being sidelined.

According to the memo, these sweeping changes are intended to align DoJ policy with President Donald Trump’s "restoring biological truth" executive order. Issued on Inauguration Day, the order restricts transgender women from accessing women’s housing in federal prisons and bans the provision of gender-affirming healthcare for incarcerated transgender people.

Civil rights organizations and legal experts have reacted with alarm, describing the move as "reckless and dangerous."

"The proposed revisions to the PREA standards will lead to increased chaos and violence inside prisons and jails, placing staff and incarcerated people in greater danger," said Linda McFarlane, executive director of Just Detention International. McFarlane warned that removing these oversight mechanisms would essentially "allow rapists to act with impunity," dismantling over a decade of bipartisan work to reduce prison rape.

"I’ve never met a trans person in detention who has not experienced sexual abuse or harassment while incarcerated," McFarlane added, emphasizing that the removal of these safeguards puts an already vulnerable population in grave peril.

The DoJ’s directive comes despite ongoing litigation surrounding the president’s executive order. Federal courts have previously intervened to block the transfer of transgender women into men's prisons, yet the administration continues to pursue regulatory rollbacks.

Kara Janssen, an attorney representing transgender women in Bureau of Prisons custody, argued that the memo places correctional facilities in a precarious legal position. "It’s saying you don’t have to be afraid to violate the law… and you can do these searches as disrespectfully as possible," Janssen said. However, she noted that the DoJ’s administrative memo does not override the Constitution. "When people are assaulted as a result of these changes, there is liability for these facilities. That is not going away."

Shana Knizhnik, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, echoed concerns about the broader message the memo sends to correctional staff. Knizhnik noted that while PREA remains the law, the directive gives "more license to individuals to target trans, intersex and other LGBTQ+ folks in carceral settings and ignore their obligations under the law."

Despite the hostile policy landscape, Knizhnik offered a message of solidarity to those inside: "It’s so important for folks to know that even though the government is denying their existence and trying to put them in harm’s way, there are folks on the outside who care and affirm and want to protect them."