1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action against the Bureau of Prisons policy that subjects approximately 2,200 transgender people in federal custody to what constitutes torture and human experimentation. This policy violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and potentially violates international human rights law. The BOP policy, released by the Trump administration, forces all transgender prisoners off medically necessary gender-affirming healthcare and mandates conversion therapy through psychotherapy and psychotropic medication until their gender dysphoria diagnosis is marked as "resolved." This approach has been rejected by every major medical association and recognized by the United Nations as a form of torture. Research demonstrates conversion therapy increases risks of suicidal ideation, depression, and PTSD. This policy has no exceptions. Trans people who have been on hormone therapy for years or who have had surgery will be forced off all care, even those who no longer produce sex hormones naturally after medical transition. The policy also requires constant misgendering and confiscation of all gender-affirming items including binders, bras, and makeup. The structure of this policy constitutes human experimentation on a captive population. It forces 2,200 people into discredited treatment, denies medically necessary care, assigns a measurable outcome that will be electronically recorded, and provides no feasible alternative except submission or suffering. This violates at least seven of ten points in the Nuremberg Code regarding ethical human experimentation, including voluntary consent, avoidance of unnecessary suffering, and the obligation to terminate harmful experimentation. The Department of Justice also eliminated federal sexual violence protections for trans prisoners in December, affecting federal prisons and 36 states, leaving this vulnerable population even more at risk. I urge you to introduce or co-sponsor legislation that prohibits conversion therapy in federal custody, restores access to medically necessary gender-affirming healthcare for transgender prisoners, and reinstates sexual violence protections. These individuals deserve constitutional protections against torture and cruel and unusual punishment regardless of their incarceration status.