Citizens React, Transgender Inmates Panic as Trump Orders Transfer to Right Prisons, Halts Their Healthcare Funding

Israel Adeleke 

OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News reports as gathered that hundreds of transgender federal prisoners face uncertainty and fear after President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating transfers to facilities based on biological sex rather than gender identity.

OTN News further reports as gathered that this new development has sparked concerns, particularly from legal advocates who warn of the dangers these inmates may face in male prisons.

This order, signed on Trump’s first day in office, states the government will recognise only two sexes and restrict “intimate spaces” like bathrooms and dorms to biological sex. 

OTN News gathered that the Federal funding for transition-related healthcare has also been halted.

Sharing concern on the new moves as quoted by DailyMailUK, attorney Moira Meltzer-Cohen, who represents a transgender woman serving a life sentence for bank robbery, Donna Langan, said “It’s going to be incredibly dangerous.”

According to the report, Meltzer-Cohen fears a “bloodbath” if trans inmates are forced into male prisons.

Also, a federal public defender, Sandra Gant, revealed that her office was alerted after a trans client was segregated for transfer to a men’s prison. She said “She is terrified,” Gant shared, calling for legal strategies to challenge the policy.

In her own part a female inmate in Texas, Rhonda Fleming, welcomed the decision after her failed legal battle to exclude trans women from women’s prisons, citing fears for her safety. 

Fleming claimed some male inmates fake gender identities to serve sentences in women’s facilities.

However, the Bureau of Prisons, which oversees approximately 1,500 trans women and 750 trans men, has yet to decide on placements for inmates who have undergone gender-affirming surgeries, citing additional security concerns.