FORT WORTH, Texas — A judge has ordered the Bureau of Prisons to schedule gender-affirmation surgery for a transgender woman who has experienced repeated delays in receiving treatment, including when she was housed at a Fort Worth women's prison.
On April 18, an Illinois judge ordered the BOP to provide a detailed timeline for gender-affirming surgery for Cristina Iglesias, including undertaking a nationwide search to identify a qualified surgeon. Iglesias was incarcerated at FMC Carswell, a women's medical prison in Fort Worth, beginning in May 2021. She was transferred to a BOP residential reentry center in Florida in March and is scheduled to be released in December.
Iglesias has been incarcerated since 1994 and fighting for appropriate treatment for years, according to the ACLU of Illinois. She would become the first transgender person to receive gender-affirming surgery while in federal custody, according to the ACLU and statements made by the BOP in court proceedings.
