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Ever since Donald Trump returned to office, the LGBTQIA community’s human rights have been disregarded and we’ve had little protection against incursions from the government. As Trump incessantly tests the boundaries of power, the few rights trans people once had while incarcerated are now obsolete.

Deep-red Texas, meanwhile, has dehumanized incarcerated trans people by depriving us of both liberty and gender expression. Being incarcerated in Texas puts targets on the backs of trans people and a bullseye on our heads.

For starters, violations of any kind against incarcerated trans people are generally ignored, uninvestigated, and treated as insignificant. Freedom of speech, expression, and religion is nonexistent. Solidarity and protection for trans people has become extinct behind bars. Not only do prison staff not protect trans people, but prison culture actually promotes violence against trans people. Within the Texas prison system, trans people have to fend for themselves in an unprotected and unsafe environment. I know from experience.

As a F2M transgender person (trans man) diagnosed with gender dysphoria in a Texas women’s prison in 2017 by University of Texas Medical Branch, I’ve been subjected to forced isolation and marginalization. Policies and practices are implemented with hostility toward trans people. For instance, I was a victim of prolonged solitary confinement from 2012 to 2021. I fought for my release from solitary confinement for years only to be placed in “restrictive housing” once Trump’s administration took over in 2025. Restrictive housing is the same as solitary confinement: I am locked up 23 hours a day with no human interaction. Prison administrators say they placed me here for my own safety. But I believe I am being punished for being transgender.

The hatred of, fear of, or discrimination against trans people based on their gender identity or expression has taken a turn for the worse in Texas prisons. Discrimination, harassment, and violence against trans people in Texas prisons has heightened since the Trump administration has been in power. I suffer disproportionate harm, from the risk of retaliatory assaults to predatorial sexual violence, poor health care, and inadequate mental health attention. Since complaints to the prison ombudsman are downplayed and grievances are........

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