[Lamplighter]

NY Times
8/27/13

An Army spokesman said the Army did not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment therapy.
A spokesman at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where Private Manning will be incarcerated,
was uncertain whether she would be permitted to undergo hormone therapy, even if she paid for the treatment herself.

However...

Prisoners have a constitutional right to care for their serious medical needs.
In the case of individuals with gender dysphoria, treatment often includes hormone therapy,
and failure to provide it can raise the risk of serious depression, self-mutilation attempts or even suicide.

Several federal courts of appeal have said that a state’s deliberate failure
to provide individualized assessments of whether a transgender prisoner needs
access to specialized medical treatment, like hormone therapy or surgery,
violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

As part of a lawsuit settlement in 2011, the federal Bureau of Prisons began
making medically necessary hormone therapy available to all transgender inmates,
including those who had not received a diagnosis and begun the therapy before incarceration.
Although transgender people continue to be barred from service in the military,
the Department of Veterans Affairs offers a range of services for transgender veterans, including hormone therapy.

Of course, the Manning case presents other issues as well,
starting with whether the all-male prison at Fort Leavenworth
is the right institution for Private Manning.
Transgender inmates are especially vulnerable to sexual assaults,
and special care must be taken to ensure their safety
with accommodations like private showering.

The nature of Private Manning’s offense could make for added safety worries.
Prodded by lawsuits and strong Justice Department regulations issued last year
to implement the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, civilian jails and prisons
around the country are developing ways to address the particular needs of transgender inmates.
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