Latest news with #TransgenderOffenderManual
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
There's a lot to learn about crime. Trump's orders are making it harder to get answers.
The Trump administration is quickly trying to reshape America's criminal justice system. Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi cancelled hundreds of Department of Justice grants centered on crime prevention to shift its focus toward illegal drug enforcement and the eradication of DEI policies. On April 28, the president signed executive orders to limit police reform and rescind consent decrees that hold police agencies accountable. And recent reporting details how the department's Office of Civil Rights is transitioning from enforcing civil rights laws to bringing cases against universities and cities passing liberal policies, leading hundreds of attorneys to resign in protest and effectively gutting the division. But all the news about what these directives are doing can distract from what exactly they're undoing by rapidly curtailing public access to information about crime and criminal justice. In the early days of the Trump presidency, government agencies began deleting web pages that promoted 'gender ideology' or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. As reported by the Journalist's Resource, pages about gender-based violence and structural racism were taken down and remain offline. The Bureau of Prisons removed from its website its Transgender Offender Manual, which outlined policies for interacting with transgender people who are incarcerated. Plus, an overview of definitions and data on hate crimes is no longer accessible on the National Institute of Justice's website, although some of the material exists on other Justice Department webpages. Though each change may be minor on its own, together, they interfere with the public's understanding of the causes of violence, successful crime prevention strategies and the workings of the criminal justice system. Ultimately, without access to this kind of information, it becomes harder to hold the government accountable for its policies around policing and incarceration. The information ecosystem wasn't perfect under the Biden administration, either. Around 2020, methodology changes and bureaucratic reshuffling led to significantly less reporting on deaths in custody, a problem that continued throughout Biden's presidency. In 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation finished switching systems for collecting crime data. The Marshall Project reported that 6,000 of 18,000 police agencies did not transition in time, leaving a gaping hole in a primary resource for national crime statistics. The Trump administration, however, has gone beyond bureaucratic hiccups by actively impeding access to public information. In March, the White House removed an advisory declaring gun violence a public health issue and listing statistics on shootings. According to Mother Jones, major layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have threatened the future of the dataset known as WISQARS, which tracks information on gun violence injuries and deaths and has become a critical resource for researchers. Data collection is often the first step toward addressing serious societal problems. Take the issue of 'wandering cops' who transfer between police agencies without their histories of abuse or misconduct following them. In 2022, the Biden administration created the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, a central place for police departments to search for information about federal law enforcement officers with criminal convictions and misconduct violations. Trump decommissioned the database on his first day in office. State and local agencies come to rely on tools like this to gain insights from other jurisdictions and compare the success of different programs, but that work is becoming increasingly challenging. Federal agencies are also removing research staff, cutting funding and eliminating grants that, over time, build a portfolio of knowledge around criminal justice issues. There are plenty of examples on the topic of gun violence alone. At the Department of Homeland Security, officials discontinued an advisory board that was developing evidence-based best practices to prevent school shootings. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the research team studying gun violence was decimated by layoffs, losing about three-quarters of its staff. As for the funding cuts at the Department of Justice at the end of April, the changes have far-reaching implications for researchers trying to better understand crime patterns and prevention strategies. An analysis of the list of canceled Justice Department grants published by Reuters shows that at least 44 grants worth more than $47 million were slated for research projects, including research on juvenile justice, violent extremism, elder abuse, policing strategies and reentry programs. The Justice Department also cut all funding to the Prison Rape Elimination Act Resource Center. Passed unanimously by Congress in 2003, PREA mandated data collection on incidents of sexual assault in prisons to identify paths to prevention. The act led the National Institute of Justice to fund the Culture of Prison Sexual Violence study, the largest ethnographic study of incarcerated people ever conducted, which resulted in a long list of recommendations for prisons and jails. The study found that more than 9% of incarcerated people were aware of a rape committed by a correctional staff member. Follow-up research projects are now in limbo due to the federal government's funding cuts. In a seeming contradiction, the Trump administration is hoping to streamline and encourage data collection on crime rates. The April 28 executive order on policing included a mandate to 'increase the investment in and collection, distribution, and uniformity of crime data across jurisdictions.' Project 2025—a conservative policy blueprint for the Trump presidency—wrote favorably of the Justice Department's National Crime Victimization Survey, saying officials 'should prioritize and sufficiently fund it.' Trump has already implemented several Project 2025 recommendations for the Justice Department. For the data and information that is now shielded from public view, there are a number of organizations racing to restore access. The Project on Government Oversight has a searchable database of 160 investigative records taken offline in February that document alleged abuses by the Department of Homeland Security. Harvard University has compiled data on health equity and environmental justice and made the information available online. The Data Rescue Project is archiving millions of records on youth behaviors, education, COVID-19 and more. There's also the Wayback Machine, an easily accessible tool for finding older versions of web pages that have since been altered or removed from the internet. It offers users an option to archive websites as they exist today. Have you seen examples of how data and research on the criminal justice system are changing under the Trump administration or have data to share? Share them with Jill at jcastellano@ This story was produced by The Marshall Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system, and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration officially rescinds rules protecting transgender inmates despite ongoing lawsuits
The Trump administration has officially rescinded guidelines meant to protect transgender inmates in federal prison, part of the White House's larger attempts to eliminate government recognition of trans people. The Bureau of Prisons will rescind the Transgender Offender Manual 'effective immediately,' according to a memo from the bureau's acting director, William Lothrop, obtained by The Intercept. The move is meant to bring federal prisons in line with the administration's executive orders on sex and gender, which declare that the federal government only recognizes two sexes assigned at birth, male and female, bars housing trans people in prison facilities matching their gender identity, and directs prison authorities to cut off spending on sometimes life-saving gender-affirming medical care for trans inmates. The offender manual, last updated under the Biden administration, had instructed prison officials to consider the unique violence faced by trans people in prison when making housing assignments, and it shielded trans women behind bars from searches by male guards and intentional misgendering by prison staff. More than one-third of trans people in prisons and jails experience sexual violence, the highest reported level of any group, according to a 2018 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. While the prison bureau has officially rescinded the rules, the Trump administration's larger plans for trans people behind bars are partially on hold, thanks to multiple lawsuits from inmates. On Monday, a judge in one suit issued a ruling halting the medical and transfer plans, finding that such changes could violate the Eighth Amendment's bar on cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling meant there are now 13 trans inmates covered under temporary injunctions. There are an estimated 1,500 trans women in federal prison, about two dozen of whom live in women's facilities. Last week, the Bureau of Prisons laid out its own new guidelines for trans inmates, ending referrals for gender-affirming surgery and prohibitions around male guards searching transgender women. The guidelines noted that despite the new policies, the bureau still has an 'obligation to comply with Federal law and regulations,' including the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act, the landmark federal law Democratic administration's used to support the previous transgender treatment manual.
The Independent
28-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump administration officially rescinds rules protecting transgender inmates despite ongoing lawsuits
The Trump administration has officially rescinded guidelines meant to protect transgender inmates in federal prison, part of the White House's larger attempts to eliminate government recognition of trans people. The Bureau of Prisons will rescind the Transgender Offender Manual 'effective immediately,' according to a memo from the bureau's acting director, William Lothrop, obtained by The Intercept. The move is meant to bring federal prisons in line with the administration's executive orders on sex and gender, which declare that the federal government only recognizes two sexes assigned at birth, male and female, bars housing trans people in prison facilities matching their gender identity, and directs prison authorities to cut off spending on sometimes life-saving gender-affirming medical care for trans inmates. The offender manual, last updated under the Biden administration, had instructed prison officials to consider the unique violence faced by trans people in prison when making housing assignments, and it shielded trans women behind bars from searches by male guards and intentional misgendering by prison staff. More than one-third of trans people in prisons and jails experience sexual violence, the highest reported level of any group, according to a 2018 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. While the prison bureau has officially rescinded the rules, the Trump administration's larger plans for trans people behind bars are partially on hold, thanks to multiple lawsuits from inmates. On Monday, a judge in one suit issued a ruling halting the medical and transfer plans, finding that such changes could violate the Eighth Amendment's bar on cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling meant there are now 13 trans inmates covered under temporary injunctions. There are an estimated 1,500 trans women in federal prison, about two dozen of whom live in women's facilities. Last week, the Bureau of Prisons laid out its own new guidelines for trans inmates, ending referrals for gender-affirming surgery and prohibitions around male guards searching transgender women. The guidelines noted that despite the new policies, the bureau still has an 'obligation to comply with Federal law and regulations,' including the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act, the landmark federal law Democratic administration's used to support the previous transgender treatment manual.
The Intercept
28-02-2025
- Politics
- The Intercept
Trump Administration Abolishes Rules Protecting Trans Prisoners
The Trump administration has officially eliminated guidelines that protect transgender people in federal prisons. It is the latest step in implementing one of President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting trans inmates and detainees in federal custody. In a brief directive circulated to federal Bureau of Prisons employees on Thursday, a copy of which was reviewed by The Intercept, the acting director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, William Lothrop, rescinded the agency's Transgender Offender Manual. The guidelines were removed from the BOP website in late January, but the agency has continued to cite them in ongoing lawsuits over Trump's executive order. Lothrop's memo, dated February 25, cancels the Transgender Offender Manual 'effective immediately' and orders it removed from the BOP intranet and prison libraries. BOP did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 'The Transgender Offender Manual was based on constitutional protections and federal law, so I think it is a very dangerous step backwards,' said Richard Saenz, an attorney at Lambda Legal. The guidelines had been last updated in 2022, reversing changes made during the first Trump administration. They had instructed prison wardens and staff on minimal protections for trans inmates, consistent with federal regulations and the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The policy reflected the 'increased risk of suicide, mental health issues and victimization of transgender inmates.' Under the prior guidelines, protections included considering housing placements for trans and intersex prisoners on a 'case-by-case basis' to 'ensure the inmate's health and safety,' as well as shielding trans women from being searched by male guards and forbidding staff from deliberating misgendering inmates. In separate guidance circulated last week, a copy of which was also shared with The Intercept, the BOP acknowledged that Trump's executive order 'does not supersede or change BOP's obligation to comply with Federal law and regulations.' Saenz also emphasized that the Trump administration cannot erase constitutional protections for incarcerated trans people. 'It's attempting to defy these well-established protections' for inmates' safety and adequate healthcare, Saenz said of the BOP's rescission order. The new guidance says nothing about how BOP will proceed with plans to move trans women to male facilities, which is currently being challenged in court. 'The risk of serious violence Plaintiffs face if transferred to men's facilities is known to BOP and is why these individuals were permitted to live in female facilities in the first place,' lawyers for a dozen trans women in federal custody wrote in a court filing earlier this week. On Monday, a federal judge blocked BOP from transferring the women to male prisons, finding this likely violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The BOP's new guidance for trans prisoners is also silent about gender-affirming care, which Trump's executive order also attempts to eliminate. On Monday, the judge also ordered the BOP to maintain the same medical care for the dozen inmates that the bureau received before Trump took office. But under the new agency guidance, search accommodations for trans inmates 'are no longer authorized.' BOP staff must 'refer to individuals by their legal name or pronouns corresponding to their biological sex.' The new guidance also prohibits inmates from receiving 'clothing accommodations,' such as 'undergarments that do not align with an inmate's biological sex.' The rescinded manual allowed trans inmates to select undergarments that reflected their gender identity, and wardens could approve other items on an individualized basis. Under the new guidance order, inmates who previously purchased commissary items can keep them, a reversal of moves by some wardens earlier this month to confiscate clothing items. Although the immediate impact of rescinding the BOP guidelines is unclear as lawsuits proceed over Trump's executive orders, advocates fear the signal that such moves send to corrections officials around the country. 'These unconstitutional and dangerous attacks by the Trump administration should not be seen as a green light for state systems to follow along,' Saenz said. 'These actions and this hostile, hateful rhetoric does not change the fact that there are laws protecting trans people.'
