Utah House passes bill on transgender inmate regulations

Yahoo

04-02-2025

A bill regarding transgender inmates was considered and passed 60-14 in the House general session on Monday.
HB252's purpose centers around three main actions, the bill's sponsor, Majority Whip Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, said during the meeting.
First, there is currently no law in Utah that prohibits juvenile detention center staff from engaging in a sexual relationship with a person in juvenile custody up to a certain age. A person can be in juvenile custody as old as 25 in the state, and it isn't a crime for such relations to occur from 21 to 25. This bill would change that.
'I think we can all agree that that kind of relationship is inappropriate in an incarcerated setting,' Lisonbee said.
Second, the bill would require inmates to be assigned housing based on their biological sex, which may not match what they identify as. Both Minority Leader Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, and Rep. Grant Amjad Miller, D-Salt Lake City, voiced concern with a part of the bill.
'I could only imagine the difficulties of someone, say, a trans female juvenile, being placed in secure care in a cell or closed rooms with other biological boys. At such a tender age, I think that it's a safety issue. I think the top two concerns we should have are safety of the child and best interest of the child,' Miller said, stating those were the reasons he was opposing the bill.
Romero asked Lisonbee directly if this bill would cause potential harm to transgender inmates by putting them in housing where they don't identify. Lisonbee said there is language in the bill to protect both inmates and staff, but that 'there is a strict and fast line for housing with a member of the opposite biological sex, and that is not allowed under the bill.'
'It's common sense legislation that permits safety, security and privacy for juvenile detainees and will also support the smooth operations of JJYS (Juvenile Justice and Youth Services) facility,' Lisonbee said.
HB252 echoes President Donald Trump's executive order: 'Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.'
The order effectively bars men who self-identify as women from residing in women's spaces and prohibits the use of federal funds for any medical procedures, treatments or medications intended to alter an inmate's appearance to match that of the opposite sex. Following Trump's order, The New York Times reported that 'there are about 1,500 federal prisoners who are transgender women. ... But they represent an outsize portion of federal inmates, especially among female prisoners: 15 percent of women in prison are transgender. There are 750 transgender men out of about 144,000 male prisoners.'
The third action in Lisonbee's bill would deny inmates the ability to initiate transitioning procedures, whether it be cross-sex hormone treatment, sex characteristic surgeries or puberty blockers, while under state supervision.
Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck, R-Tooele, voiced her support for this bill due to her firsthand experience dealing with youth in the legal system, including some who she said identified as LGBT.
'I know that when they are coming to a facility to get help for drug treatment or maybe even some mental care, those types of things, it really is a distraction to be focusing on other issues, such as gender procedures and those types of things,' she said. 'Really, the best thing that you can do is face the problem that they're there for, and it's not for that. And so I like how this streamlines the care of a child and would make sure that they're in a good mental state before they make those types of decisions.'
Rep. Troy Shelley, R-Ephraim, added that courts across the state of Utah are all over the place regarding rulings that surround the language of HB252 and that 'our responsibility as lawmakers is to clarify for the courts what they can act on,' he said in support of the bill.
Following discussion of the bill and prior to the House vote, Lisonbee reiterated that the Department of Correction has done more in recent years to prioritize its attention on helping inmates across the state succeed following their time in detention.
'We want to help inmates at prison and county jails and at (Juvenile Justice and Youth Services), to address their medical needs, overcome addictions and obtain mental health treatment. That is the focus of this bill,' she said.
'But at the same time, a correctional facility is not a place for an individual to make long, lasting and life-changing medical decisions, especially when we consider that those would be made at taxpayer expense. So for all of those reasons and more, HB252 directs DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) county sheriffs and state corrections to provide inmates with gender dysphoria and any co-occurring mental health disorders with access to psychotherapy, mental health care, (and) other necessary and appropriate treatments.'
Two weeks ago, HB252 passed the House Judiciary Committee. Now that the House has further greenlit it, the bill will be sent to the Senate for further consideration.