The Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA) strongly condemns the Department of Justice for its reckless plan to cut the Prison Rape Elimination Act standards that protect transgender and intersex individuals from sexual violence while incarcerated. The proposed changes would strip away basic safeguards such as appropriate searches, access to safe showering and changing areas, and the requirement that staff treat them with basic dignity. This places an already disproportionately vulnerable population at even greater risk for violence, especially sexual violence. Rather than uphold its obligation to prevent sexual violence in detention facilities, the DOJ is dismantling the most fundamental protections for transgender and intersex people.
In a memo sent to PREA auditors on December 2nd, the DOJ instructed officials to ignore numerous provisions explicitly designed to protect transgender and intersex people from sexual violence. The memo cites Executive Order 14168, which denies the existence of transgender people, as the basis for removing the requirements that staff conduct gender-appropriate searches, permit safe access to showers, and treat trans and intersex people with respect. Furthermore, these changes have not been released publicly, so the rollout of this directive has been issued through internal memos and direct communications between the administration and PREA auditors. This protects the administration from public scrutiny. Additionally, corrections personnel are left with confusion, because the memo stipulates that they do not need to follow the existing standards under PREA, which would be a violation of the law. This ambiguity could also lead to inconsistent standards of practice between facilities.
The SVPA defines state-sanctioned sexual violence as an agent or institution committing a nonconsensual sexual act with explicit impunity granted to them by the state, for any reason other than the individual’s immediate safety. Eliminating the standards for gender-appropriate searches falls under this definition. The changes imparted by the DOJ will increase levels of state-sanctioned sexual violence against trans and intersex people in detention.
When the government instructs auditors to ignore the current PREA protections, it also participates in state-tolerated sexual violence, which is nonconsensual sexual acts committed with implicit impunity provided by the state. Staff are effectively told they will not be held accountable for certain forms of violence against trans and intersex people, which will likely increase with the reduction in protections for access to safe showering and changing areas. If there are no protections in place stating that trans and intersex people must be treated with basic dignity, they are at higher risk for violence within the facility. The DOJ has effectively said that this will be tolerated.
“Removing PREA protections not only increases the risk of sexual violence, it represents the government’s official endorsement of it,” said Omny Miranda Martone, Founder and CEO of the SVPA. “These changes will absolutely result in sexual violence against trans, nonbinary, and intersex individuals across the country.”
Trans and intersex people experience some of the highest rates of sexual assault in incarceration. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that approximately thirty-five percent of transgender inmates experience sexual assault during each year that they are in detention.. This is more than ten times the rate of cisgender incarcerated people. PREA standards requiring gender-appropriate searches, safe housing, and access to private showering were developed partly in response to this emergency.
By instructing staff to disregard the very protections that were put in place to address the violence occurring against trans and intersex people, the DOJ is effectively creating the conditions for a rise in sexual violence, discrimination and retaliatory incidents, and a rollback of existing institutional standards. There will be real consequences. These changes will embolden abusive staff, discourage survivors from reporting assaults, and make facilities less safe for everyone.
Several advocates, PREA auditors, and legal organizations have expressed alarm over this memo. The SVPA has previously released statements calling for an end to strip-searching and applauding facilities that have done so. PREA compliance has been a tool for preventing sexual violence for more than a decade. Cutting PREA’s protections for trans and intersex people leaves facilities without guidance, accountability, or clear expectations for staff conduct. The directive greenlights violence. It tells trans and intersex people, including detained youth, that their government will not protect them.
The SVPA calls on the DOJ to immediately reverse this directive and reject any changes to PREA that weaken protections for trans and intersex people. State and local correctional facilities should continue to follow the existing standards, regardless of this memo and the proposed new federal guidance. This will affirm their commitment to preventing sexual violence in detention.
Dismantling PREA will cause real and devastating harm. It will expose trans and intersex people to increased levels of sexual violence, embolden abusive staff, and erode decades of progress in addressing rape in detention facilities. The DOJ must choose safety, dignity, and accountability, not state-sanctioned and state-tolerated sexual violence. The SVPA will be submitting a comment to the justice department demanding that they rescind this memo. Allies, advocates, and incarcerated people are encouraged to sign on.
