Federal officials deny transgender inmate’s request for gender-affirming surgery: lawyer

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has apparently denied a Texas prisoner’s request to become the first inmate to receive gender-affirming surgery while in federal custody.

Cristina Iglesias, 47, was hoping to receive the surgery before her scheduled release from the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth at the end of 2022.

But last week, a transgender council with the Bureau failed to inform a judge of its decision regarding Iglesias’s request for the surgery, effectively denying it, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois, which is representing her in a civil lawsuit against the federal prison system on the matter.

“After years of fighting unnecessary hurdles and delays, Cristina has once again been denied the opportunity to get the care she needs and that the Constitution requires,” John Knight, the director of the LGBTQ & HIV Project at the ACLU of Illinois, told the Chicago Sun Times on Jan. 28. 

“The record regarding the pain and suffering that Cristina has endured is clear,” he added. 

A deadline to inform the judge of approval was set for two days after the council met on Jan. 24. When that passed, attorneys assumed the Bureau was preparing to officially decline the request.

The Bureau has ten days from Jan. 26 to inform a judge why it did not approve the surgery, according to the Dallas Morning News.

While more than 1,200 federal inmates identify as transgender, according to the ACLU, Iglesias was close to becoming the first to receive gender-affirming, or sex reassignment, surgery while in federal custody.  

The Hill has reached out to the ACLU of Illinois and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for comment.

Iglesias, a male by birth serving a 20-year sentence for threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction against the British government, was hoping to win approval for the surgery later this year after fighting for it since 2016.

The inmate was housed in a men’s prison from 1994 until last May, when Iglesias was transferred to the women’s prison in Fort Worth after she filed for preliminary injunctive relief in court. In late December, a court ordered the Bureau to review Iglesias’ request for surgery.

Attorneys have argued that Iglesias has been “denied adequate medical care while in federal custody” and “denied basic medical care to treat her gender dysphoria and was housed in men’s prisons for more than two decades, where she experienced severe physical and sexual violence,” according to a December release.

The news comes just days after the Bureau updated its Transgender Offender Manual to remove a Trump-era requirement requiring inmates to be housed based on biological sex. Officials can now consider a person’s gender identity when deciding where to house them.

The push to better consider transgender rights in prison is part of President Biden’s pledge to protect the rights of the LGBTQ community. Last year, he signed an executive order to prevent and combat discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, including within federal agencies.