New York governor wants to allow trans inmates to choose between men's or women's prisons

ALBANY, N.Y. (TND) — Under a new policy directive included in New York Governor Kathy Hochul's $216 billion budget plan, transgender inmates would be able to pick and choose where they would be housed, presumably based upon their own gender identity.

If an inmate says they possess a gender which is different than the one they were assigned at birth, then they will have the right to request placement “with persons of the gender that is consistent with such person’s gender identity," the new policy states.

Wardens of New York prisons will ultimately have the final say, looking at requests on a "case-by-case" basis. The policy says authorities will take “safety, security or health concerns" into account when making the decision.

Hochul's plan also orders the commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to train officers to stop and forbid any discrimination against transgender inmates.

No employee of the department shall misgender any individual in the care or custody of the department by intentionally referring to someone, including but not limited to, a transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary or intersex person, using a word, pronoun or form of address that does not correctly reflect the gender with which they identify,” says the directive in Hochel's new budget proposal.

Transgender inmates will have the right to “gender-affirming medical and mental health care" and also must “have access to department-issued undergarments and clothing that are consistent with the individuals’ gender identity, and shall have the ability to receive undergarments, clothing and personal care items through package procedures," according to Hochel's new policy.

Speaking with the New York Post, Allen Roskoff, leader of the Jim Owles LGBT Liberal Democratic Club, says Hocul's new policy is "long overdue".

It’s long overdue. Transgender persons are often the victims of violence and hate,” says Roskoff. “I commend Governor Hochul for doing a wonderful, wonderful thing. It’s logical and forward-looking. Transgender people need support.

Hochul reportedly says the transgender inmate rights policy will require approval from state lawmakers, as it requires a change in state law.