Latest news with #federalprisons
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
More than 100 human rights abuses discovered in immigration detention since Trump took office, senate probe says
An investigation from the office of Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff uncovered more than 500 allegations of human rights abuses in immigration detention facilities, including more than a two dozen reports involving children and pregnant women and more than 40 instances of physical and sexual abuse. The senator launched an investigation into conditions inside the nation's sprawling network of immigration detention facilities after Donald Trump took office in January. A subsequent report, first published by NBC News on Tuesday, identified 510 'credible reports' of abuse inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, federal prisons, local jails and military bases, including Guantanamo Bay, and on deportation flights. 'Credibly reported or confirmed events to date include deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse, mistreatment of pregnant women, mistreatment of children, inadequate medical care, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, inadequate food or water, exposure to extreme temperatures, denial of access to attorneys, and family separations,' according to the report. Those events include 41 allegations of physical or sexual abuse, including an alleged incident in El Paso where a detainee was 'slammed against the ground, handcuffed, and taken outside' for 'stepping out of line in the dining hall.' The report also uncovered two 911 calls from a California facility referencing sexual assaults or threats of sexual assaults. At a facility in Texas, at least four emergency calls since January have reportedly referenced sexual abuse, the report found. When a group of detainees in Miami flooded a toilet in protest of poor conditions, officers reportedly threw flash-bang grenades into the room and 'shot at the men with what appeared to be pellets or rubber bullets,' according to the report. The detainees were then handcuffed with zip-ties that cut into their wrists when detainees requested food, water and medication, the report says. The senator's office uncovered at least 14 reports alleging pregnant women were mistreated in Homeland Security custody, 'including not receiving adequate medical care and timely checkups, not receiving urgent care when needed, being denied snacks and adequate meals, and being forced to sleep on the floor due to overcrowding,' according to the report. A pregnant woman's partner in custody in Georgia had reported to the senator's office that she had bled for days before staff took her to a hospital. Once she was there, 'she was reportedly left in a room, alone, to miscarry without water or medical assistance, for over 24 hours,' according to the report. According to documents obtained by NBC News, the woman received a follow-up check-up on April 9, 11 days after she miscarried. In another case, a pregnant detainee was reportedly told to 'just drink water' after requesting medical attention. Attorneys for other detainees told the senator's office that their pregnant clients have been forced to wait 'weeks' to see a doctor while in custody. The senator's office also collected 18 reports involving children, including U.S. citizens, some as young as two years old. Three of those children reportedly experienced 'severe medical issues' while in detention and were denied adequate medical treatment, according to the report. In another case, an attorney reported that a U.S. citizen child with severe medical issues was hospitalized three times while in custody with her non-citizen mother. According to the report, when the young girl began vomiting blood, the mother begged for medical attention, to which an officer reportedly told her to 'just give the girl a cracker.' A citizen child recovering from brain surgery was reportedly denied access to follow-up care, a case that was publicly reported earlier this year. She faces continued brain swelling and speech and mobility difficulties, according to the senator's report. Another previously reported case involving a four-year-old cancer patient is also included in the senator's report. 'Regardless of our views on immigration policy, the American people do not support the abuse of detainees and prisoners … it's more important than ever to shine a light on what's happening behind bars and barbed wire, especially and most shockingly to children,' Ossoff said in a statement shared with The Independent. Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News that 'any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false.' Detainees in ICE custody are provided with 'proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members,' she said. 'Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE,' she told NBC. The Independent has requested additional comment from Ossoff's office and Homeland Security. Ossoff's report follows nearly eight months of the president's vast anti-immigration agenda and mass deportation machine, set to receive tens of billions of dollars over the next decade to radically expand detention capacity and the number of ICE agents working to remove people from the country. Lawsuits and reports from immigration advocates and attorneys have alleged similarly brutal conditions in facilities in California, Texas, Louisiana, New Jersey, Florida and New York, where detainees have reported food shortages, illness and denial of access to legal counsel.
Reuters
4 days ago
- Climate
- Reuters
The heat inside America's prisons
Follow on Apple or Spotify. Listen on the Reuters app. Race and justice reporter Disha Raychaudhuri and host Christopher Walljasper examine the challenge of extreme temperatures inside crammed U.S. prisons. Hear one man's experience of 28 years incarcerated in the California prison system and follow our reporter's journey to uncover the extent of the problem for state and federal prisons across the US. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Listen to Reuters World News here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit to opt out of targeted advertising. Further Reading Scorching cells: How heat threatens lives in America's prisons How Reuters collected and analyzed prison temperature data
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
US judge rules prisons must provide gender-affirming care for trans people
A US judge on Tuesday ruled the US Bureau of Prisons must keep providing transgender inmates gender-affirming care, despite an executive order Donald Trump signed on his first day back in office to halt funding for such care. US district judge Royce Lamberth in Washington DC allowed a group of more than 2,000 transgender inmates in federal prisons to pursue a lawsuit challenging the order as a class action. He ordered the Bureau of Prisons to provide them with hormone therapy and accommodations such as clothing and hair-removal devices while the lawsuit plays out. The ruling does not require the bureau to provide surgical care related to gender transitions. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said the Trump administration expects to ultimately prevail in the legal dispute. 'The district court's decision allowing transgender women, aka MEN, in women's prisons fundamentally makes women less safe and ignores the biological truth that there are only two genders,' Fields said in an email. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the prisoners, said the ruling was 'a critical reminder to the Trump administration that trans people, like all people, have constitutional rights that don't simply disappear because the president has decided to wage an ideological battle'. About 2,230 transgender inmates are housed in federal custodial facilities and halfway houses, according to the Department of Justice. About two-thirds of them, 1,506, are transgender women, most of whom are housed in men's prisons. The named plaintiffs, two transgender men and one transgender woman, sued the Trump administration in March to challenge Trump's January 20 executive order aimed at combating what the administration called 'gender ideology extremism.' The executive order directed the federal government to only recognize two, biologically distinct sexes, male and female; and house transgender women in men's prisons. It also ordered the bureau to stop spending any money on 'any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate's appearance to that of the opposite sex'. Lamberth, appointed by Republican president Ronald Reagan, said in Tuesday's ruling that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their lawsuit because the bureau did not perform any analysis before cutting off treatment that its own medical staff had previously deemed to be medically appropriate for the inmates. Even if it had extensively studied the issue before deciding to stop gender-affirming care, the decision might still violate the US constitution's eighth amendment's protections against 'cruel and unusual' punishment, Lamberth wrote. The Department of Justice had argued that the judge should defer to the policy decision of a democratically elected president, but Lamberth said a functioning democracy requires respect for 'all duly enacted laws,' including those that blocked the executive branch from acting in an 'arbitrary and capricious' manner. Democratic self-governance 'does not mean blind submission to the whims of the most recent election-victor', Lamberth wrote. The executive order said it was meant to promote the 'dignity, safety, and wellbeing of women, and to stop the spread of 'gender ideology' which denies 'the immutable biological reality of sex'. But the inmates receiving hormone treatments had little interest in promoting any ideology, and were instead taking 'measures to lessen the personal anguish caused by their gender dysphoria,' Lamberth wrote.
Fox News
03-06-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Federal judge rules against Trump order halting sex change procedures in prisons
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to continue to provide accommodations and care for transgender inmates in federal prisons, saying officials had not provided a serious explanation for why medical treatment for gender dysphoria should be handled differently than other cases. The order Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, blocks officials from carrying out President Donald Trump's executive order, which required Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) officials to stop providing medical procedures related to sex changes. "Neither the BOP nor the Executive Order provides any serious explanation as to why the treatment modalities covered by the Executive Order or implementing memoranda should be handled differently than any other mental health intervention," Lamberth wrote in a 36-page opinion. The judge granted an injunction requested by three transgender inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria to block the implementation of Trump's executive order. Lamberth ruled the plaintiffs' merits are likely to succeed under the Administrative Procedure Act. "The import of the opinion is essentially this: Under the APA, the BOP may not arbitrarily deprive inmates of medications or other lifestyle accommodations that its own medical staff have deemed to be medically appropriate without considering the implications of that decision," Lamberth wrote. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House. A BOP spokesperson told Fox News Digital the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation or matters that are the subject of legal proceedings. Trump's order mandated the BOP stop providing "any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate's appearance to that of the opposite sex." Prior to Trump's reversal of BOP gender dysphoria policies, the BOP began funding transgender surgical procedures for transgender inmates in December 2022, with Donna Langan, formerly known as Peter Kevin Langan, becoming the first federal prisoner to undergo taxpayer-funded gender surgery. Langan was convicted in 1997 for involvement in a series of armed bank robberies across the Midwest during the 1990s. Langan was a leader of the Aryan Republican Army, a White supremacist group that carried out these robberies to fund their activities, according to court documents. Tuesday's ruling comes as judges continue to block parts of Trump's agenda.
Forbes
03-06-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Judge Blocks Trump's Order On Trans Inmates
Federal prisons in the U.S. must provide hormone therapy and social accommodations for hundreds of transgender inmates, a judge ruled Tuesday, blocking an earlier executive order by President Donald Trump—an opponent of gender-affirming care—that prevented federal funds for their treatment. Trump issued an executive order blocking federal funds for 'the purpose of conforming an inmate's ... More appearance to that of the opposite sex.' Judge Royce Lamberth ruled neither the Bureau of Prisons nor Trump's executive order provided 'any serious explanation' as to why hormone therapy and social accommodations, including cosmetics and clothing that match the inmate's gender identity, should not be provided for more than 600 transgender inmates. Inmates who challenged Trump's order successfully argued their treatment is necessary to 'lessen the personal anguish' caused by their gender dysphoria, Lamberth said, noting the Bureau of Prisons did not dispute gender dysphoria could pose severe side effects, including anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. Shortly after his inauguration, Trump ordered the Bureau of Prisons to revise its medical care policies to be consistent with other federal policies recognizing only two sexes, male and female, by ensuring federal funds aren't used for any medical procedure, treatment or drug 'for the purpose of conforming an inmate's appearance to that of the opposite sex.' Trump's order also asked the Bureau of Prisons to make sure 'males are not detained in women's prisons,' with dozens of transgender women later moved to men's facilities, though Lamberth and other judges have challenged or blocked the transfer of some inmates. The Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 2,198. That's how many transgender inmates are within the federal prison system as of Feb. 20, 2025, according to Bureau of Prisons data obtained by NPR. Trump targeted gender-affirming care and the transgender community early in his second presidency. His executive order, which he argued would defend women from 'gender ideology extremism,' declared the federal government would recognize male and female as the only two sexes. Trump issued another executive order in late January that limited access to gender transition surgeries for people younger than 19, after he said the U.S. would 'rigorously enforce' laws that 'prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures.' Trump's push against gender-affirming care follows a yearslong effort by dozens of states to bar or limit access. The U.S. military has asked transgender service members to voluntarily leave active-duty service by June 6, according to guidance issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. About 1,000 service members have disclosed being diagnosed with gender dysphoria and have agreed to leave, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement, though just over 4,000 transgender people serve in the military. Hegeth's guidance follows an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court, which said Trump could implement a ban on transgender people serving in the military.
