FOX 13 News reports the lawsuit was filed in Utah’s federal court this week. It claims the state prison system of issuing a “blanket ban” on beginning hormone therapy without considering individual medical needs or the medical judgment of their doctors.
The inmates are seeking access to prescribed hormone therapies and gender confirmation surgeries.
The Utah Department of Corrections has not commented on the lawsuit. Health department officials declined to comment because the litigation is pending.
In court papers, their attorneys — the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah and Lambda Legal — claim Utah’s law violates their Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
They also allege Utah has denied or limited the inmates’ rights to equal access to healthcare by failing to provide timely and accurate condition-specific care and individual assessments of the need for surgery due to “disability or suspected disability of gender dysphoria.”
Earlier this year, state lawmakers passed House Bill 252 which placed restrictions on medical care for transgender inmates. Previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings have found the Constitution bars prison systems from denying adequate care to all incarcerated people.