“I Cannot Imagine Surviving”: Read the Stories of the Trans Women Facing Forced Head Shaving and Medical Detransition in Florida Prisons
Legal documents filed by trans women reveal that trans inmates have endured widescale persecution, humiliation, suffering, trauma, and brushes with death for many years in Florida prisons.
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As reported by Erin In The Morning, on December 27th 2024, a Trump-appointed federal judge rejected a preliminary injunction requested by the ACLU against the new Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) policy on transgender inmates, which will result in the continued forcible social and medical detransitions of many trans women across Florida’s prison system.
Judge Allen Winsor, a Trump appointee, justified his preliminary ruling in Keohane v. Dixon under highly questionable legal and scientific grounds. He repeatedly misgendered the plaintiff while citing nonsensical claims about the medical treatment for trans people that go against WPATH guidelines and all known medical science on gender-affirming care, such as labeling gender dysphoria a “short-term delusion.”
Winsor also professed support for “psychotherapy” practices that are much more akin to “conversion therapy,” a long-debunked practice which doubles the risk of suicide of trans people forced to take part.
Judge Winsor’s ruling, which misgenders the plaintiff twice in the opening paragraph, grinds against recent precedent set by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in another lawsuit brought by the same lead plaintiff Reiyn Keohane in Keohane v. Inch in 2020. The ruling can be appealed, but the fate of the lawsuit remains uncertain and the policy remains in effect in the meantime.
The justices ruled in Inch that Keohane had a constitutional right to gender affirming care under her Eight Amendment rights against cruel and inhumane treatment. Unfortunately, they also ruled that trans inmates do not have a right to socially transition, opening the door for cruel policies that also remain in place due to the judge’s ruling against a preliminary injunction.
Under the new FDC policy, women face having “their heads forcibly shaved and receive disciplinary action for possessing any female undergarments and makeup.” According to a legal declaration filed on behalf of Michelle Ward, a trans woman in a Florida prison:
The loss of my hair, along with female undergarments and makeup, has been earth-shattering for me…I stay awake crying many nights.
Forced head shaving beckons back to the dark history of Native American residential schools in the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which mandated Native American boys have their hair cut to conform their appearances with Western gender standards.
The purpose of this policy was to humiliate Native American children and rob them of their basic humanity and connection to their culture and tribal identities. The stories of the women described in this article show that the intentions behind the FDC policy are no less cruel or dehumanizing in their nature.
Similarly, many schools and workplaces enforce racist dress codes for the hairstyles of Black children and adults, an issue that continues to remain unaddressed by federal civil rights law.
In order to understand the stories of some of the prisoners impacted by these policies, I scoured through hundreds of pages of legal documents filed on behalf of trans inmates over the course of the last nine years.
Every marginalized human suffering state persecution deserves to have their voice heard and amplified even if they are behind bars, so I’m choosing to publish the stories of three trans women who filed legal declaration with the court in Keohane v. Dixon (2024). It shouldn’t have to be said, but people who have been convicted of crimes still deserve to be treated as humans and not be subject to cruel and unusual punishments.
I am certain there are hundreds if not thousands of other inmates who are forced to suffer similar abject cruelty in prisons across Florida and other parts of the country, and 99.9% of them will never have the opportunity to have their stories heard. Each story below should be read taking that into consideration. Each story represents one thousand stories.
Please note that the stories below include graphic descriptions of suicidal ideation, self-harm, and state-sanctioned violence and humiliation against members of a marginalized identity. If you have a history with these issues or are sensitive to such language in any way, please exercise caution when choosing to read this article. I especially implore trans people with poor mental health to consider sharing this article with a cis friend rather than reading it yourself. I did my best to minimize the most graphic details, but I can’t tell these women’s stories without telling their full stories.
Dial 988 in the U.S. to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
The Trevor Project hotline for LGBTQ+ youth: (866) 488-7386.
Trans Lifeline: (877) 565-8860.
Other US LGBTQ+ hotlines: https://pflag.org/resource/support-hotlines/
International suicide hotlines: https://findahelpline.com/.
Her name is Reiyn Keohane.
Reiyn Keohane is the lead plaintiff on this case as well as in the previous case that was decided in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
According to a legal document filed in her original case in 2016, Reiyn understood her gender identity when she was 12 years old, and was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder at 16. She legally changed her name at 17.
In 2014, Reiyn was denied treatment after being placed in custody of the FDC for a 15-year sentence, and she has tirelessly fought her prison administrators with internal grievances and federal lawsuits for her constitutional right to medical treatment and social transition ever since.
Here’s an extract from her first informal grievance filed in August 2014:
This treatment is absolutely necessary to my ability to mentally function…It is the only thing that matters in my life in this moment – that I have been taken off of such critical medication is cruel and unusual punishment in that it causes needless suffering
She continued to be denied treatment, and filed a grievance with the warden at her prison. In the grievance, she mentions her need for hormone therapy in order to improve herself to be a better person once she rejoins society:
Hormone therapy is necessary for me to live on a daily basis, and to complete my time in a positive and productive manner…I would like to use my time to better myself, and I try to, but this is the most important thing that can possibly be done to improve my future…Without it, I have no will to have a future at all.
She was once again denied, and the prison cited her “canceling” an appointment for hormone therapy in 2013 as a reason to deny her care. But Reiyn noted in her next appeal that she actually missed her appointment because she was in jail.
Reiyn also filed a grievance with her doctor to allow her to socially transition in December 2014.
I have lived my entire life past the age of 13 as female, and it is extremely detrimental to my mental health to forbid this practi[c]e; it is also well documented as a legitimate and proper treatment for a person who is transgender.
Soon after another denial in 2015, Reiyn was referred to psychiatrists after a self-mutilation attempt.
She continued to file grievances in later in December 2015, including to the “chief medical officer” of her prison, noting that she has low testosterone which means her body medically physically requires hormones in order to remain healthy.
In another grievance in December 2015, she describes how guards confiscated her bras and female undergarments that she obtained by bartering with inmates who sew.
When I arrived at Dade CI TCU, I had 2 personal sports bras and 3 set of female undergarments that were confiscated unjustly and removed from my property as contraband…There is no valid safety concern as the female underwear is made of the same materials as the male sort and is the same as the underwear issued in female prisons.
After several more months of back and forth grievances and denials, Reiyn said she met with the medical directory of her prison, Teresita Dieguez, and provided the doctor all of her medical records of gender dysphoria. The doctor refused to review her records or discuss her transgender status. Instead, Reiyn alleges that the doctor told her:
You are only here so I can determine the state of your genitals.
After this meeting, prison authorities put Reiyn in danger of sexual assault after she was assigned a male roommate despite having been housed alone until that point. Their justification was that the medical department said she is not transgender.
According to Reiyn’s legal declaration, Dieguez continued to deny her medical treatment and transgender status for months, even after a mental health physician said she required hormone therapy and that only medical doctors who can prescribe hormones could help her.
She filed another grievance against the medical department in May 2016. At this point, she had been imprisoned for two years without access to medical treatment, and that time had clearly taken a toll on her.
I experience severe depression, fatigue, anxiety, body-image disorders, fear, eating disorders, persecution, a constant state of unease, and self-harming behaviors…as a result of this lack of treatment.
Dieguez denied this appeal. Reiyn once again appealed to the DOC Secretary, which was returned without action.
At this point, Reiyn had exhausted all internal remedies and survived three suicide attempts. She filed her first lawsuit in August 2016 in Keohane v. Jones.
According to a newer legal filing from her 2024 lawsuit, two weeks after she filed her lawsuit, Reiyn was finally referred to an endocrinologist who prescribed her hormone therapy.
Six weeks after that, the FDC formally repealed the so-called “freeze frame” policy that subjected her and other trans inmates to this treatment, which had only allowed trans inmates to continue hormonal medication at the levels before they came to prison.
Reiyn Keohane had fought one of the world’s largest prison systems as one of the most marginalized groups in society imaginable—an incarcerated trans woman—in some of the most cruel and inhumane conditions imaginable, and yet she survived. And her actions led to an FDC policy that secured the medical and (some) social transition rights for trans women in one of the biggest states in the country that lasted at least six years.
However, she was still not fully allowed to socially transition by the prison system. The prison seemed to go out of their way to target her for humiliation and forced gender conformity, despite (or perhaps because of) her pending lawsuit on the matter.
What happened next should make anyone with a conscience feel shocked to their core.
On Tuesday, September 13, 2016, I was forced to have my hair cut…They told me I was going to get a haircut. I repeatedly said that I was not getting my hair cut. I was slammed into the glass in the front of the dorm. I told them I was transgender and have a lawsuit about this and they should wait until this goes to court…
The captain said that I was either going to come out and cut my hair or he would pepper spray me, call a cell extraction team, write a bunch of [Disciplinary Reports], and then they would cut my hair. They then took me back downstairs, and they cut my hair. They cut it into a buzz cut, less than 1/4 inch all around.
This forced humiliation happened despite her prison’s policy allowing for hair as low as to the ears. And her life became even more miserable. Any woman who prizes her hair, cis or trans, can only imagine the horror and trauma of having someone forcibly restrain you and violently shave your head against her will.
After my hair was cut, I hated myself. I could not stand to look at myself in the mirror. I punched the wall and mirror several times to the point where my hand swelled up because it would distract me from what I was feeling.
And despite losing their case to deny medical treatment to trans women in appeals courts, the FDC once again revisited their policies on the medical treatment of trans prisoners in September 2024 after a law banning any state agency to pay for gender-affirming care went into effect.
All transgender prisoners in her prison—about 80 in total—were rounded up by guards dressed in full riot gear. Many high-level prison officers were in attendance, and officers in a central tower watched over them with large guns. One of the officers told the guards, “make sure they line them up where the ones with guns can see them.”
The officers read a statement describing how the new FDC policy would strip them of the basic rights to medical treatment and feminine garments that Keohane had fought so hard for so many years to win. They tried to force the inmates to sign a piece of paper without letting them read it. Keohane described the entire incident as “extremely traumatic.”
Soon after, trans inmates endured a series of humiliating doctor visits that involved breast measurements to determine whether the women could have a bra and other questioning from prison medical officials.
The basic human rights she had secured for her people after years of suffering had been cruelly snatched away in an instant.
Reiyn was now back to writing grievances.
Of course, they denied her.
The cruelty from prison staff only escalated.
For example, when Captain Wilson walks through our dorms for inspection, he has been announcing the number of days before he’ll discipline us for not cutting our hair. I have heard him say, “Y’all better get right before then or it will be bad if you don’t.”
The ACLU once again files suit on behalf of Reiyn soon after the announcement of this policy, this time as a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all trans women in the prisons. Reiyn Keohane filed her legal declaration on October 23rd, 2024. Her last statement in the document is the following:
I could not function day to day without this care. It is the only thing that's preventing me from not functioning.
I reached out to the ACLU for an update on how Reiyn is doing, but I have not heard back.
Her name is Michelle Ward.
According to her legal declaration in Keohane v. Dixon, Michelle Ward is a 53 year-old trans woman in the custody of FDC since 1992, when she was 20.
Michelle has known she is a woman since “between the ages of 8 and 10.” She started to socially transition at 15. When she was imprisoned in the early 1990’s, accessing gender-affirming care from a doctor was far more difficult and less common, especially for younger people.
In 2019, Michelle was diagnosed with gender dysphoria by the prison’s doctor. Under new policies introduced after Keohane’s lawsuit, she was allowed to wear her hair long, have female undergarments and accessories, and wear makeup. Later that year, she also started hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and continued ever since.
Michelle had suffered from mental health struggles and struggled with self-harm for her entire life until she finally had access to HRT at age 48.
After receiving treatment, I started to feel whole for the first time in my life.
Until September 30th. As described earlier, she and all other inmates were rounded up and informed that they were being stripped of social transition accommodations. They were all given 30 days to have their hair cut and to turn in all bras, underwear, and makeup.
Michelle’s breasts were evaluated by the medical team on October 10th, and she was told she did not qualify for a bra. She has a B-cup.
According to a survey of more than 42000 women by Mys Tyler, a company that operates a platform of “women who share body data and outfits,” the most common cup size worn by American women is a C-cup—which is only one inch bigger than a B cup.
Michelle delayed the mandatory head shaving and confiscation of female items as long as she could.
On the last of the 30 days, I was given a direct verbal order to get my hair cut. As I sat in the chair getting my hair cut, I cried the whole time. That same day, I handed in all of my female underwear and makeup and other prohibited female items.
The loss of my hair, along with female undergarments and makeup, has been earth-shattering for me. [Harmful thoughts] that I experienced before treatment came flooding back like a tidal wave. I stay awake crying many nights.
I feel naked and humiliated without a bra.
Michelle filed additional grievances and appealed with the prison regarding these policy changes that were denied.
Michelle’s legal declaration filed by the ACLU is dated November 25th, 2024. I will update this article if I receive any newer information on news on how she is doing.
Her name is Sasha Mendoza.
According to her legal declaration, Sasha Mendoza has known her identity since she was 15 years old. She was placed in custody of FDC in 1985, and started socially transitioning in 1993. Due to the lack of standards around transgender healthcare at the time, she was not able to access HRT for over 25 years of her prison term.
In July 2020, Sasha was finally diagnosed with gender dysphoria after “extensive testing” at her prison. She was allowed to wear female clothes, long hair, and other female items.
Even though she had already waited almost 30 years at that point, they made her wait another year before approving her for HRT in July 2021, and several more months before she finally received the treatment in 2022.
Hormone therapy allowed Sasha to finally feel like she was a human.
It makes me feel human, like I'm normal; without it, it makes me feel like I'm being forced to live something I’m not. When I was able to wear the proper clothing my depression and anxiety went down.
Even short delays of receiving hormones would send her into a tailspin, a common experience for many trans woman.
One time my hormones were delayed by nine days, and it threw me in a tailspin. Depression hit me really hard, and I was crying a lot. The doctor explained to me that it was because of the delayed hormone treatment.
We can only imagine her pain when the prison took away her hormone therapy for good after the new FDC policy went into effect. According to Sasha, a prison Major told her Governor DeSantis ordered the policy change.
Since September 30, 2024, my self-esteem, anxiety, depression, loss of appetite, sleep have been worse. It feels like I am not living but only existing.
Sasha was lucky enough to be deemed female enough to keep her bra, which requires a “medical pass” that was valid for one year.
Despite being told they would be “reevaluated” for hormone therapy, after 45 days no one she knew had been reevaluated. The trans women of Florida prisons had life saving medication hanging in the balance, an incalculably painful weight on their collective mental health and physical well-being.
Without estrogen, many trans women have no hormones at all in their body—a dangerous condition that even in cisgender people leads to bone loss, cardiovascular risks, and severe fatigue.
According to researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the impact of suddenly stopping estrogen therapy in a trans woman is no different stopping estrogen in a cis woman—severe menopause.
The Mount Sinai study shows that FDC is embarking on a policy that will undoubtedly force their doctors to break the basic rules of medicine—do no harm. Even temporary stoppages for gender-affirming surgery were questioned in this study.
The first rule of medicine is “Do no harm.” If a transgender woman can continue her estrogen therapy throughout her gender-affirming surgery, she shouldn’t be made to go through sudden, severe menopause or suffer psychological distress.
A permanent stoppage of HRT would be medically unjustifiable, and the silent pain these women would be forced to endure is simply beyond words.
Sasha also filed numerous grievances and appeals to the new policy, without any positive response.
The fear of losing the hormones she had waited nearly 30 years for consumes her.
If they took away my hormone therapy treatment, I would be ready to end my life. I’m at that point. It may sound drastic. But FDC just let me start my transitioning and I was doing so well, and now they are making me stop. I’m halfway there and halfway not there.
Sasha’s legal declaration was filed on November 25th, 2024. It’s unknown whether she or other prisoners have had their hormones taken away as of the publishing of this article, but as of December 10th, 2024—before the latest court ruling—the Marshall Project reported that they had not yet lost access.
Epilogue: Where do trans advocates go from here?
Writing this article was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done. The senseless cruelty hit a spot in my highly empathetic heart, and I had to take several breaks just to cry. Deeply understanding the institutionalized depravity of the cruelness inflicted on trans people in this prison system only compounds the tremendous burden our community already endures outside of prisons.
The new Florida policy for trans prisoners can’t be taken in a vacuum—the state is criminalizing trans existence at the same exact time. Florida now considers it “fraud” to “misrepresent” your gender on state drivers licenses. And Florida officials have already threatened to arrest one trans woman for finding a way to update her gender on her drivers license. The state has also banned trans people from bathrooms, banned trans care for minors, banned all trans healthcare from all state medical plans, and has made it difficult for even adult trans people to access hormones paid for with private insurance.
Trans people, like targets of many genocides in the past, comprise less than one percent of the population. It’s never been easy for such a small group of people to defend themselves against hatred and violence form all sides.
Hitler’s so-called “Final Solution”, which ordered the mass extermination of concentration camp prisoners, was not enacted until he had already been in power for eight years, which he obtained after over a decade of using propaganda and hatred to instigate violence and humiliation against Jews, LGBT people, and other minorities on the streets.
The US, even in Florida, has not yet enacted a “Final Solution” for trans people. But the institutions that are meant to protect minorities from such a horror are increasingly weak and crumbling. The same court system that upheld the rights of trans prisoners to have access to medical care only a few years ago is now echoing the rhetoric of religious extremists to greenlight prison systems who want to humiliate and detransition them.
And history has shown us that when Congress, the President, individual states, and federal courts all choose to sanction state violence against a minority, the only recourse remaining is for people to start protesting on the streets for their lives.
We still have time. But we have to act now, and ACT UP. Ask yourself, are you or anyone you know in your community organized and ready to protest on the streets? If not, could you or someone you know who could build and run such an organization?
These are the questions people in the community have to start asking themselves, no matter where you are or who you are. Allies to trans people must involve themselves just as deeply to fight back against fascism as well, since trans people alone are far outnumbered by the opposition.
Reiyn Keohane has survived a decade of fighting the prison and legal system despite innumerable hardships and setbacks. Her actions have made a real difference for trans prisoners across her state. And Reiyn’s continued will to survive and fight proves that we can all find hope, life, and community through activism, no matter how hard they try to stop us.
This article took over 20 hours to research and publish, outside of my regular job. If you appreciate my efforts and want to receive new articles for free in your inbox, please subscribe! Paid subscriptions, with the addendum described below, will fund efforts to improve and expand this independent publication. I also encourage readers to share this article to others, especially allies who might not understand the true scope of the cruelty in Florida prisons.
My next article will detail my experience interviewing ACT UP LA activists who have themselves been interviewing many of the former ACT UP members who successfully fought for the lives of LGBTQ+ people during the AIDS crisis over 30 years ago. They shared a lot of wisdom and urgency on how trans people can once again ACT UP and fight back against the new threats the community faces. This next article might end up being my most important one yet, so I especially encourage you to sign up for email updates if you want to read more.
Author's note regarding LA wildfires
As I wrote this article, a massive wildfire brightly visible from my home consumed vast swaths of the city—including areas very close to me. I’m grateful my area was saved from harm by the brave efforts of firefighters brought in from across the continent, but many others were not so fortunate. I appreciate the patience and kindness readers have shown me as my work has been delayed.
If you would like to help contribute to rebuilding peoples’ lives devastated by this climate catastrophe, you can donate to any one of hundreds of GoFundMes for Black families who lost their home here, and for Latine families here.
In addition, 50% of subscription revenue received by MadyCast for the next 60 days will be donated to LA fire relief efforts for marginalized communities, especially LGBTQ+ families. The remaining revenue will continue to be reinvested into the website, such as by hiring other trans reporters or editors. I (Mady) don’t take a salary from the revenue.
This is disgusting. I'm a trans man and can't fathom what I'd do in these womens' shoes. Thank you for writing about this. People need to know.
Mady, I cannot thank you enough for writing the stories of these women to share with us. It helps to see better coverage of these issues... I'm afraid too many people will disregard the serious nature of the harm being done because these women are incarcerated, and that only adds to the tragedy. They deserve to be treated with dignity and care. I am heartsick over what's happening to them.