The new seven-page policy applies to housing, clothing, showering, grooming and searches, among other categories. The Gender Identity Committee has broad discretion over what clothes and toiletries inmates should have access to and what gender security officers can search them. The policy requires sensitivity training on gender identity disorder and the Gender Identity Committee for all officers and supervisory staff.
Policies for transgender inmates are becoming more common across the country, with jails in Washington, San Francisco and Maine adopting them, advocates said. Cook County Jail is the first in Illinois to institute one, according to Steve Patterson, spokesman for the Cook County sheriff's office.
The rules took effect March 21 and have been applied to seven inmates since then, and staff already have seen some early success with one woman in particular, Patterson said...
Advocates said they're cautiously optimistic that the policy will improve conditions and security for transgender inmates, but that only time will tell.
