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Context: DOJ under then-Attorney General Lynch made a similar declaration (in line with decades of court rulings) when they investigated the case of Ashley Diamond in 2016. Trump's DOJs ignored that investigation and the rights of trans people in prison. https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1385362242317688832
Ashley Diamond is back in prison on a parole violation, and the abuse she's experienced has only grown worse. She's been assaulted 16 times since her 2019 arrest, including three times by prison staff (according to her lawyers). https://www.wrdw.com/2021/04/09/transgender-woman-seeks-transfer-from-georgia-mens-prison/
Today, DOJ filed a statement of interest in Ashley's case, marking a return by DOJ to defending the rights of trans people in prison (thank god).
Some official stances the Department of Justice took today: "Failure to Consider Housing Transgender Inmates in Facilities That Correspond to Their Gender Identity Violates the Eighth Amendment Because Doing So Disregards a Substantial Risk of Serious Harm."
"Prison officials demonstrate deliberate indifference to the substantial risk of serious harm facing transgender prisoners by refusing to consider placing them in housing that corresponds to their gender identity."
"Prison Officials Violate the Eighth Amendment When They Fail to Treat Gender Dysphoria Based on an Individualized Assessment of a Transgender Prisoner’s Needs Because Doing So Constitutes Deliberate Indifference to a Serious Medical Condition."
On that last point, let's remember the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to Adree Edmo's victory seeking transition-related care while held in prison in Idaho https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/21/us/supreme-court-surgery-transgender-inmate.html
More from @theCCR who's representing Ashley https://twitter.com/theCCR/status/1385354055850110977
This is a big deal! Having the rights of trans people recognized by DOJ when so many are traumatized by the carceral state is a big deal. But the only solution to mass incarceration is mass decarceration, and we can start with Ashley #FreeAshleyNow https://www.freeashleydiamond.com/
