EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A federal judge here last week said that there were "serious ongoing" violations of the constitutional rights of transgender prison inmates in Illinois "that must be immediately addressed."
Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel said in a memorandum and order that while the Illinois Department of Corrections had made some progress on changes she ordered in December 2019 in response to a class-action lawsuit filed in 2018, correctional officers and other staff have received no training in new procedures regarding transgender inmates.
"There are still serious violations of Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights happening every day," Rosenstengel said, including delays in treating inmates, denials of treatment and a failure to monitor the health of inmates receiving hormone therapy and to properly adjust the dosage. The judge compared it to "a physician ordering a cholesterol test, the results coming back over 300, and yet the physician does nothing but put the lab results in the chart."
