Ninth Circuit vacates Oregon order on transgender inmate housing

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a preliminary injunction that required the Oregon Department of Corrections to house transgender inmates based on their gender identity. The appellate court reversed a lower court ruling that had mandated a presumption of placement in facilities consistent with an inmate's gender identity unless security concerns were documented.

Writing for the three-judge panel, Judge Eric C. Tung stated that the district court relied on unsupported assumptions and outdated statistics. The panel found that the lower court erred in concluding that Oregon maintained a “default presumption” of housing transgender women in men’s institutions. Evidence presented by the state indicated that Oregon utilizes a committee process to make individualized housing decisions based on medical history, mental health, self-identification, institutional behavior, and the safety of inmates and staff.

The reversal also removes previous requirements regarding showers, searches, sexual-abuse reporting, and mental-health services that had been imposed by the lower court's injunction.