Law Commons^™

Gender Dysphoria In The Jailhouse: A Constitutional Right To Hormone Therapy?, Susan S. Bendlin

Susan S. Bendlin

This Article explores whether incarcerated inmates with Gender Dysphoria, such as Private Manning, have a constitutional right to receive medical treatment for gender re-assignment, and if so, whether they are likely to succeed in suing to obtain treatment if it is not provided by prison officials. Evaluating a prisoner’s Eighth Amendment claim involves two inquiries: an objective component as to whether the inmate displays a “serious medical need”, and a subjective component as to whether the prison officials were “deliberately indifferent” to that need.The issue is a sensitive one because the diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria as a medical illness has …