DOJ sues Utah prisons after trans inmate castrates self in protest over delays for 'gender-affirming' care

The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the Utah Department of Corrections after a biological male inmate who identifies as a woman performed a self-castration in protest over the delay in "gender-affirming" care.

The unidentified prisoner was allegedly found to be suffering from gender dysphoria by prison doctors, though a formal diagnosis was not given until nine months later. Six months later, cross-sex hormones were prescribed. The complaint also alleges that the prison failed to accommodate the inmate's requests for "reasonable modifications" to some of its sex-based policies.

These "reasonable modifications" included: transfer to the women's cell block, requests to purchase female undergarments, clothes, and makeup, and requests to be pat searched by only female officers. These were all denied.

According to the DOJ, "because UDOC failed to provide her equal access to health care services and reasonable modifications for her gender dysphoria to enable her to live consistently with her gender identity (female), Complainant's distress over the incongruence between her gender identity and assigned sex worsened, leading her to perform self-surgery to remove her own testicles in May 2023."

The DOJ argued that UDOC "discriminated against" the inmate "on the basis of her disability," referring to the gender dysphoria.
 

"By not allowing me this opportunity to live my life as a woman, who I believe I am and have lived life for many years," the inmate wrote in an Americans with Disabilities Act request, "the prison is causing me such mental stress in the form of anxiety, depression..."

The DOJ argued that UDOC violated Title II of the ADA, and called on the prison system to provide individuals suffering from gender dysphoria with the appropriate services, including the ability to present as they wish. The agency also requested "compensatory damages" be paid to the now testicle-less prisoner.