The Nevada Department of Corrections has adopted new policies to expand the privileges transgender inmates will receive while at Nevada state prisons.
In a Wednesday meeting with the Board of Prison Commissioners — a meeting that included Gov. Brian Sandoval, Attorney General Adam Laxalt, and Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske — Nevada state officials announced that they would adopt new policies that are more accommodating to transgender needs according to The Nevada Independent.
The transgender policies were developed by the ACLU and leaders of the transgender community in Reno and Las Vegas, and come after a notable push for prisons across the country to craft such policies. The state wanted to make changes before the Department of Justice intervened like it has in another states, the prisons director James Dzurenda told The Nevada Independent.
Prison staff should not ask about any inmate’s sexual orientation or gender identity unless it is required for housing placement, medical care, or “appropriate programming,” according to the new policy. Correctional officers are also instructed to ask questions about gender in “a private and professional manner to avoid risking abuse or ridicule from other inmates.” (Related: Transgender Prison Guard Suing California Over Discrimination).
Inmates who don’t identify with any gender are also given their own cell until they can meet with a Non-Conforming Gender Review Committee that will decide what their housing situation will look like. Transgender inmates can also choose what kind of pajamas and underwear they want to wear and can even ask for a supply of bras. Nevada prisons will also provide hormone therapy to any transgender inmate who was scheduled for sex reassignment surgery before becoming a criminal. In addition, the prison will pay for inmates’ hormone therapy if they have been surgically castrated or have a prescription for hormone medication from a doctor.
Nevada’s new transgender polices come after a federal judge ordered the taxpayer-funded county prison in Pennsylvania to pay for hormone therapy treatment for transgender inmate Steven Fritz who wants to become a woman named Sparkles Wilson. (Related: Judge Forces Prison To Provide Hormone Therapy To A Transgender Dude Named SPARKLES WILSON).
The prison’s policies also follow Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise in April to move men who identify as women to female prisons.
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