New Jersey agrees to house inmates based on gender identity after discrimination lawsuit
CBSN
The New Jersey Department of Corrections will house inmates based on gender identity, as opposed to the sex they were assigned at birth, according to a settlement reached on Tuesday. The settlement comes after a transgender woman filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging that she was forced to live in men's prisons and was subject to verbal and sexual harassment as a result.
Under the new policy, inmates will be placed "with a presumption that the inmate will be housed in line with their gender identity." While the department is allowed to override the presumption for reasons including management, security or safety issues, the policy states that "under no circumstances will a transgender, intersex, or nonbinary inmate's placement in line with their gender identity be considered a management or security problem solely due to their gender identity." Inmates will be housed in private cells while their housing arrangements are being determined and will have the ability to appeal and provide input on their housing decisions. All inmates will also have the ability to provide information about their gender identity to staff at any time while incarcerated.Parts of the West are under excessive heat warnings and officials say multiple record-high temperatures are expected – with some areas already reaching them. Temperatures will only get hotter on Thursday, which was expected to be the hottest day of the heat wave for most areas and the weekend is expected to be 10 to 15 degrees above normal, according to the The National Weather Service Las Vegas.