Three Transgender Women Sue Trump Administration Over ‘Life Or Death’ Prison Transfer Plan

"This could mean life or death and she has not received a death penalty as her sentence," one of the women's family members wrote.

Three incarcerated transgender women sued the Trump administration on Thursday, alleging that the president’s executive order directing government officials to move them to men’s prisons and cut off their access to health care violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

The women, identified as Jane Doe, Mary Doe and Sara Doe, will face a high risk of harassment, abuse, violence and sexual assault if moved to men’s facilities, they wrote in their complaint. When Mary was previously incarcerated in men’s BOP facilities, she was raped multiple times, according to the complaint.

If the plaintiffs lose access to their hormone therapy and other care, they are likely to experience worsening gender dysphoria — which increases the risk of suicidality and depression — as well as other adverse health outcomes, the complaint alleged.

Openly transgender people account for less than 1% of people in federal prisons, according to Bureau of Prisons data accessed on Jan. 27. (BOP no longer publishes the number of trans people behind bars; the agency’s stats online now refer only to “inmate sex.”)

In the days following Trump’s executive order, lawyers and advocates told HuffPost that trans women in BOP facilities throughout the country were being placed in solitary confinement and notified that they would soon be transferred to men’s facilities. The United Nations recognizes prolonged solitary confinement as a form of torture.