A federal judge ruled the N.C. Dept. of Adult Corrections (NCDAC) violated an incarcerated trans woman’s 8th Amendment rights. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of North Carolina and Patterson Harkavy LLP filed a lawsuit in 2022 on behalf of Kanautica Zayre-Brown, whose request for gender-affirming medical care was repeatedly deferred and denied by the state.
“We are pleased that the court has recognized that DAC’s processes are biased against transgender health care and have failed those DAC is legally obligated to care for,” said Jaclyn Maffetore, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of North Carolina. “Mrs. Zayre-Brown has endured years of suffering as a result of inhumane treatment by DAC officials and the discrimination she has faced while in DAC custody.”
Zayre-Brown became the first incarcerated trans person in North Carolina to move from a prison designated for one gender to one designated for another in 2019. Since her incarceration, Zayre-Brown has been requesting to have gender-affirming surgery, procedures her doctors have repeatedly said are medically necessary.
“Maybe because they haven’t dealt with this situation before, they’re still trying to learn to deal with it,” Zayre-Brown said to NC Newsline in an exclusive interview in 2022. “But it’s been a really bad experience.”
The NCDAC created a special entity — the Division Transgender Accommodation Review Committee (DTARC) — to evaluate requests for medical treatment for trans incarcerated persons. Though prison system policies state gender-affirming surgeries can be approved, the DTARC had denied all requests, according to a release from the ACLU.
Presiding U.S. District Court Judge Max O. Cogburn released the decision on May 1, saying the prison system “did not provide individualized consideration of her medical needs,” failing to recognize Zayre-Brown’s right to medically necessary care.
“[T]his case is about whether states can permit prison officials’ personal views to determine the medical care available to prisoners,” Cogburn wrote in his decision.
Maffetore said this decision sets a precedent for future trans incarcerated persons, laying the groundwork to ensure they are treated equally within the state’s systems.
“We also hope that this decision will pave the way for other incarcerated transgender people to receive the care they need without being subject to discrimination and indignity,” Maffetore explained. “Gender-affirming care is life-saving care, and we will continue to advocate for all transgender people and those who are incarcerated in North Carolina.”