Minnesota
STATE
D. Screening
1. When an incarcerated person identifies through intake, kite, or other communication as transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary, facility mental health staff must complete a gender identity psychological screening, including the person’s wellbeing, expressed needs with respect to their own safety, and their preference for their placement at a particular facility, or other concerns they may have related to their care and confinement.
2. Mental health or health services staff may not search or physically examine any incarcerated person for the sole purpose of determining the incarcerated person’s genital status. This prohibition equally applies to people who are transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary. If the incarcerated person’s mental health or medical provider needs to know the person’s genital status for the purposes of treatment or the incarcerated person’s safety, it may be determined through conversations with the individual, by reviewing medical records or, if necessary, by learning that information as part of a broader medical examination conducted in private by a medical practitioner.
3. Upon completion of the gender identity psychological screening, the facility mental health director must directly provide the screening to the incarcerated individual, and to the following based on the nature of the person’s requests:
a) Hormones and/or surgical intervention requests related to their gender identity should be forwarded to the mental health provider to schedule a care conference between the mental health provider and the treating medical professional to review and discuss this request.
b) Single-cell placement, showering, special property, or search requests should be forwarded to the facility gender identity committee chair who will schedule a meeting with the committee to review the request.
c) Transfer requests between facilities designated for adult men must follow the procedures outlined in DOC Policy 301.095 Central Transportation – Offenders.
d) Transfer requests between facilities designated for adult men and adult women should be forwarded to the agency gender identity committee chair who will schedule a meeting to review the request.
E. Placement and Transfers
1. Facility staff determine the preliminary placement of an individual who is transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary upon intake screening in accordance with DOC Policy 202.040, “Intake Screening and Processing,” until the agency gender identity committee makes a placement recommendation and the deputy commissioner of the facility safety and security division determines placement.
2. In deciding whether to assign a person who is transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary to a facility for men or women, the department must consider on a case-by-case basis whether a placement would ensure the person’s health and safety, including taking into account the person’s own views with respect to their own safety, the best interests of the person, their ability to receive necessary and successful programming or treatment, and whether the placement would present facility security problems. The department must not place people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary in dedicated facilities, units, or wings solely on the basis of such identification or status, unless such placement is in a dedicated facility, unit, or wing established in connection with a consent decree, legal settlement, or legal judgment for the purpose of protecting such people from harm.
3. The agency gender identity committee makes recommendations to the deputy commissioner of the facility safety and security division regarding facility placement using the Agency Gender Identity Committee Recommendations form. A transfer request to a facility matching an incarcerated person’s gender identity should be approved unless the agency gender identity committee or the deputy commission of the facility safety and security division determine, based on the factors listed below, that such placement would pose a heightened risk of physical or sexual harm to the person or to others housed in the facility, or that the person is likely to engage in sexually inappropriate behavior there. The committee must consider the individual’s:
a) Views with respect to their own safety, which must be given serious consideration;
b) Assigned security level;
c) Criminal/adjudication and disciplinary history;
d) Gender expression;
e) Medical and mental health needs;
f) Programming and treatment needs and whether a particular facility placement can meet those needs;
g) Vulnerability to sexual victimization;
h) History of perpetrating physical or sexual abuse or engaging in sexually inappropriate behavior targeted at particular people; and
i) Any other individualized factors deemed relevant by the committee.
4. Prior to making a placement recommendation, the agency gender identity committee must consult the wardens of the considered facilities or their designees. Additionally, the following staff may be consulted: facility directors of clinical operations, facility mental health directors, primary mental health providers, facility security representatives, caseworkers, and treating physicians where the person currently resides and of the facility to which the person may be transferring.
5. The agency gender identity committee must promptly forward its recommendations regarding facility placement and transfers between designated facilities for adult men and adult women to the deputy commissioner of the facility safety and security division for a final decision. The deputy commissioner should, whenever possible, review the committee’s recommendations within five days, consult with the commissioner of corrections, and inform the committee chair whether the recommendations have been approved, rejected, or modified. The deputy commissioner’s determination, including a statement of reasons for any placement or transfer rejection, is sent to the members of the agency gender identity committee and to the incarcerated person, shared with the facility gender identity committee, noted in the Correctional Operations Management System (COMS), and retained in ODocS.
6. Placement and programming assignments for each incarcerated person who is transgender, gender diverse, intersex, or nonbinary must be reassessed at least twice each year by the agency gender identity committee, with recommendations sent to the deputy commissioner of the facility safety and security division or designee, to review programming needs and any threats to safety experienced by the incarcerated individual.
B. Single cell restriction
1. Mental health and medical restrictions:
. . .
e) The transgender committee must review a transgender offender’s need for a single cell and recommend placement as appropriate (see Policy 202.045, “Management of Transgender/Gender Non-Conforming/Intersex Offenders”).
3. Offender screening
a) When an offender arrives at a DOC facility as a new commitment, release violator, department transfer, jail delegation, or non-department admission, a qualified staff person completes a PREA Intake Screening Tool in COMS, screens the offender’s available file information, and interviews the offender to assess his/her potential for vulnerability to sexual abuse and/or tendencies to engage in sexually aggressive behavior.
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PREA screening information is used to determine housing, bed assignment, work assignment, and the need for further referral based on the information (see Division Directive, 202.105, “Multiple Occupancy Cell/Room Assignment”). For additional information on placement options, see the Reference section for links on administrative segregation, offender incompatibility, and transgender offenders.