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March 13 (UPI) -- The Utah Department of Corrections repeatedly discriminated against a transgender inmate on the basis of her gender dysphoria disability, resulting in the woman performing dangerous surgery upon herself, federal prosecutors said. The Justice Department has been investigating the Utah prison system after receiving a complaint from a transgender inmate who accused the state of denying her equal access to healthcare services.
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On Tuesday, the department released the results of its probe, finding that the state had failed to provide the inmate with equal access to healthcare services and to make reasonable modifications to its policies to avoid discrimination based on her gender dysphoria.
The state's failure, it said, had "severe consequences." It found the inmate's gender dysphoria worsened during her incarceration and after about 22 months under the state's care she performed self-surgery and removed her own testicles.
"All people with disabilities including those who are incarcerated are protected by the ADA and are entitled to reasonable modifications and equal access to medical care, and that basic right extends to those with gender dysphoria," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a statement.
"The Civil Rights Division is committed to ensuring that jails and prisons throughout the country do not discriminate against people with disabilities, and that right includes people with gender dysphoria."
The Justice Department has ordered the state to comply with six remedial measures, including offering the wronged inmate compensatory damages.
Utah Department of Corrections Executive Director Brian Reed told local media in a statement that they "fundamentally disagree" with the investigators on key issues mentioned in the report, though he did not specify what their disagreements were nor if they intend to fulfill the Justice Department's orders.
"We have been working to address this complex issue, and were blindsided by today's public announcement from the Department of Justice," he said. "We have also taken steps on our own, and as a state, to address the needs of inmates while maintaining the highest safety standards."
Gender dysphoria is considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, meaning no person held in a prison diagnosed with the condition can be excluded from healthcare and other services.
The inmate in question entered Utah custody in 2021 after years of experiencing symptoms of gender dysphoria. The Justice Department said the sate imposed "unnecessary barriers" to her receiving treatment for her gender dysphoria.
According to the department's report, it took the state nine months to diagnose her with gender dysphoria and another six months to provide her hormone therapy due to the state's "biased and prolong approval process."
"When UDOC finally allowed complainant to start medical treatment, her UDOC physician ... tried to talk her out of pursuing the hormone therapy that she had been seeking for 15 months," it said.
When her physician finally initiated therapy, the Justice Department said they failed to take "basic steps to ensure that it was provided safely and effectively."
The department also found that she was denied what it called "reasonable modifications to its policies." The inmate had requested female prison-issued clothing, the ability to purchase gender-affirming clothing and makeup available at the commissary, be assigned female housing and that she not be subjected to cross-gender pat searches.
"When those requests were ignored or rejected, she filed grievances and appeals. These, too, were ignored or rejected," the Justice Department report said.
The inmate performed surgery on herself in May, it said.
