Transgender inmates in Utah will face further restrictions inside correctional facilities. A bill on its way to Gov. Spencer Cox prohibits transgender adult inmates from receiving gender-affirming care and limits what cells transgender juveniles can be placed in while incarcerated.
HB252 requires transgender minors to be assigned housing that matches their sex assigned at birth. It would not be an assignment that aligns with their gender identity. Adult inmates would not be able to access hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgery. The sole exception is if an inmate was prescribed hormone therapy before entering a state correctional facility.
While the House debate focused more on the safety of transgender minors in juvenile justice centers, the debate in the Senate on Feb. 20 honed in on the prohibition of gender-affirming care for adults.
Floor sponsor, Republican Sen. Derrin Owens, emphasized that the bill “isn’t an attack on any population,” but rather guidelines on how correctional staff need to run a secure environment.
“Those things are allowable in a free society, but within corrections, the cost of those things, and potentially life-altering, would land on the taxpayers,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Jen Plumb spoke against the bill. She appreciated the exception for adult inmates who are already taking hormone therapy but scrutinized its premise.
“We are unfairly targeting certain portions of our community, we're denying medical access, life-saving, crucial medical access to Utahns, and my concerns that such targeting is not only cruel and harmful unfair, but also just not right,” Plumb said. “I just feel like at some point maybe we can stop the bullying.”
HB252 builds off legislation signed by Cox from the 2024 session. It banned incarcerated transgender adults from being housed in areas that correlate with their gender identity. While there is a pathway outlined for adult inmates to live in secured quarters that match their gender identity, that isn’t provided for transgender minors in the new legislation.
In this session, the governor has already signed restrictions on where transgender students attending state colleges and universities can live in on-campus housing. In previous years, the Legislature has restricted which bathrooms transgender individuals can use in government-owned buildings, banned gender-affirming care for transgender minors and prohibited transgender students from participating in school sports.
“I hope we're about done with bills in this body that target this population,” Plumb said.
Owens doesn’t agree with the notion that the legislation targets transgender people. He said there are many things people can’t do while incarcerated, like picking their cell.
“I think this was wise legislation, that it helps give clarity to those who we ask to take care of our incarcerated individuals,” he said.
The bill also bars correctional staff from pursuing an intimate relationship with an inmate under the age of 25.
