A federal judge has ordered Georgia’s prison system to continue providing gender-affirming care for transgender prisoners.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Victoria Calvert ruled that a state law denying gender-affirming care to inmates violated their Eighth Amendment rights. She ordered the state to continue providing treatment to inmates experiencing gender dysphoria.
The state law, SB 185, was passed by the Georgia General Assembly in May. It prohibited the use of state funds or resources for sex reassignment surgeries, hormone replacement therapies, or cosmetic procedures related to altering sexual characteristics of state inmates.
In September, a group of over three-hundred transgender inmates sued Georgia corrections officials. Five transgender plaintiffs, represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights and lawyers from Bondurant, brought the class action lawsuit forward.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr plans to appeal the decision.
