BOP Program Statement 5260.01 codifies the care ban: hormone tapering, psychotherapy-only treatment, accommodation confiscation

Guidance/memoBOP

Date
Actor
Bureau of Prisons (Director William K. Marshall III)
Agency
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)
Type
Guidance/memo (program statement)
Section
PRISONS, DETENTION, AND IMMIGRATION (BOP, DHS/ICE, EOIR, ASYLUM)

Summary

Program Statement 5260.01, "Management of Inmates with Gender Dysphoria," signed February 19, 2026, replaces the rescinded Transgender Offender Manual with a formal policy implementing EO 14168 § 4(c): no inmate may be started on hormone therapy for gender dysphoria; primary-care providers must prepare tapering/discontinuation plans (rapid for recent initiations, "appropriately paced" for long-term therapy) reviewed by a Multidisciplinary Review Team; "sex trait modification" surgery is prohibited (with care only for complications of prior surgery); and "social accommodations" (binders, breast padding, wigs, cosmetics, etc.) end, with existing items removed "when practicable." Treatment is redirected to psychotherapy targeting "psychological distress/dysphoria" — a model NCLR and other critics characterize as institutionalized conversion practice. A same-day General Counsel cover memo acknowledged BOP's continuing obligations under the Kingdom injunction. Senators Markey, Merkley, and Hirono demanded reversal in May 2026; BOP replied that "[a]bsent court order, there are no plans to reconsider or revisit the policy."

Status

Enjoined in relevant part: the June 17, 2026 Kingdom injunction bars enforcement of § 4(c) and the 2026 policy and requires restoration of care (on appeal, No. 26-5236). Also challenged in a new NCLR suit filed May 6, 2026 on behalf of Paulina Poe, a transgender woman in a men's facility (PREA and Eighth Amendment claims). Otherwise operative as BOP policy. Update, Sept. 23, 2026: On Sept. 18, 2026, a per curiam D.C. Circuit panel (Wilkins, Walker, and Garcia, JJ.) dismissed as moot the government's motion to stay the district court's since-expired June 17, 2026 injunction and denied its motion to stay the district court's (Lamberth, J.) August 26, 2026 reissued injunction against BOP Program Statement 5260.01 (D.C. Cir. Nos. 26-5236 and 26-5310, consolidated), holding the government had not shown a likelihood of success on its arguments that the policy was arbitrary and capricious, that the injunction violated the PLRA, or that classwide relief was improper (Walker, J., dissenting); the clerk was directed to set a merits briefing schedule, and the reissued injunction remains in effect. Update, Nov. 3, 2026: On Oct. 21, 2026, the Supreme Court denied the government's application, filed Sept. 28, 2026, to stay the June 17, 2026 preliminary injunction against Bureau of Prisons Program Statement 5260.01 (Trump v. Kingdom, No. 26A416, from Kingdom v. Trump, D.D.C. No. 1:25-cv-00691). Justices Thomas and Alito would have granted the stay. The injunction remains in effect while the government's D.C. Circuit appeal proceeds.

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