U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, ordered the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on Wednesday to transfer two transgender inmates—biological men who identify as women—back to federal women’s prisons.
This move comes after they were originally relocated to men’s facilities following President Donald Trump’s executive order that limited transgender protections in federal custody.
The decision, which conservatives are blasting as a blatant reversal of common-sense protections for female inmates, grants a preliminary injunction for the two individuals—identified as “Rachel” and “Ellen Doe,” ABC News reported.
Lamberth’s ruling mandates not only the immediate transfer of the two individuals but also compels the Bureau of Prisons to continue providing them with hormone therapy treatments for gender dysphoria.
The ruling follows complaints from the plaintiffs that they felt unsafe in male prisons, alleging threats of sexual assault and inappropriate searches by male officers.
“The fact that they have already been transferred and, allegedly, have been abused at their new facilities can only strengthen their claims of irreparable harm,” Lamberth wrote in his decision.
Under Trump’s policies, biological sex—not gender identity—determined where inmates were placed, helping to prevent cases where violent offenders or opportunistic criminals claimed transgender status to gain access to female-only spaces.
But with Lamberth’s order, those protections are being eroded, and the floodgates are opening once again for a dangerous precedent. The decision impacts at least 15 inmates who are currently covered under similar lawsuits.
Meanwhile, three other prisoners—one transgender woman housed in a men’s prison and two transgender men in women’s prisons—are also challenging Trump’s order, hoping to fully dismantle the remaining safeguards against gender-based prison transfers, according to ABC News.
There are reports of transgender women or individuals posing as transgender women raping female inmates in US prisons.
One significant case occurred at Logan Correctional Center in central Illinois on June 18, 2019, where a female inmate, referred to as Jane Doe, alleged she was raped by Janiah Monroe, a transgender inmate with male genitalia.
Doe claimed prison officials conducted a “sham investigation,” classifying the assault as consensual to avoid violating the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), and she faced punishment for reporting it.
In 2022, another case at Rikers Island involved a lawsuit claiming a man posing as a transgender woman raped a female prisoner, with allegations that jail staff ignored warnings about the individual’s true gender identity.
Tremaine Carroll, a transgender inmate, was charged with raping multiple female inmates in 2024. Carroll had been transferred to the women’s facility under California’s Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act, which allows inmates to be housed based on their gender identity. Following the allegations, Carroll was moved back to a men’s prison.
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