Show Me My Rights Guide: The Rights of TGNCI Missourians in Jails and Prisons

The following information can be used by TGNCI Missourians who are incarcerated (or preparing to enter incarceration), their loved ones, legal advocates, such as public defenders working with TGNCI clients, and allies who want to learn more.

Show Me My Rights: in Missouri Jails and Prisons

Learn more below about your right to be protected against discrimination and abuse in prison and what to do if your rights are violated. The law is always evolving. If you have access to a prison law library, it is a good idea to research new developments.

*Check back soon for our new “How to File a Grievance in Missouri State Prison” guide.

This is a personal decision that only you can make.

On the one hand, identifying yourself as transgender or intersex to staff as soon as you feel safe doing so, including at intake in jail or at reception in prison, at least gives you the chance to be treated consistent with your gender identity. However, unfortunately, doing so can also be dangerous in Missouri. Therefore, you should weigh the potential benefits of disclosing against the risk of experiencing harassment in your specific situation.

*Note: If you decide to notify prison officials that you are transgender, and/or have been threatened, officials are legally required to protect you. When you enter prison, inform staff you are transgender or believe you are at risk – both verbally and in writing.

Your Rights: You have a right not to be placed in a gendered unit based only on the gender assigned to you at birth. Under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (“PREA”), correctional officials must make housing decisions for transgender and gender non-conforming people on a case-by-case basis and must consider gender identity. A transgender or intersex prisoner’s own views with respect to their own safety must be given serious consideration when making these determinations.

In practice, Missouri's Department of Corrections (“MDOC”) assigns housing based primarily on sex assigned at birth, subject to individualized review by a “transgender committee” at each institution. If you are transgender or intersex, the transgender committee is responsible for determining your permanent housing assignment. Before making this assignment, the committee must meet with you to assess your vulnerability in the general population and the length of time you have lived as your gender identity. Under MDOC’s policy, transgender and intersex housing assignments should not be made based solely on genitalia. They must consider your health and safety and the facility's security, through a review of your respective classification, medical, and mental health records. *See here for more information on Missouri prison policies.

Your Rights: You should have access to the same programming, services, work assignments, and recreation as other (not transgender or intersex) incarcerated people.

As a transgender or intersex inmate, you must have all of your programming assignments reassessed at least twice every year to review any threats to your safety. Your own views on your safety should be given serious consideration.

Your Rights: Many correctional facilities house transgender prisoners in solitary confinement to protect them from violence. PREA says you cannot be segregated against your will for more than 30 days and if you are in protective custody you must have access to programs, privileges, education and work opportunities to the extent possible.

If you are placed in protective segregation and do not want to be there: file a grievance and all appeals about your placement. You should also appeal anything that seems unfair about your placement, such as not being able to participate in a hearing, not being told why you were moved to segregation, not being able to participate in programming or obtain a job, or not being told when you can get out.

Your Rights: Strip searches must be conducted professionally and respectfully. A strip search conducted in full view of other prisoners and staff may violate your privacy rights. If there is no emergency, male staff should not strip-search women (including transgender women) and vice versa. Some jails may have policies allowing transgender prisoners to choose the gender of the staff to search them.

Staff cannot conduct strip and pat-down searches solely to assess your genitals. Staff must be trained to conduct searches of transgender and intersex prisoners in a professional and respectful manner, and in the least intrusive manner possible, consistent with security needs. However, you should be aware that your correctional facility is permitted to try to determine your genital status through having conversations with you, by reviewing your medical records, or if deemed necessary, through a broader medical examination conducted in private by appropriate health care staff members.

If you do not want to be searched by a staff member of a particular sex: politely ask for a different staff member to search you. In some prisons or jails, you may also be able to get a general order that says you should only be searched by women (if you are a transgender woman).

If you request a private shower, both PREA and MDOC’s policy require that officials grant you access. But if you cannot use a private shower: ask to shower at a different time from other prisoners or in a private area (as the PREA standards require). If you still have trouble, report your concerns or specific threats to your safety to staff in writing, and also send a copy to the inspector general, the PREA coordinator for the agency with custody over you, and someone outside whom you trust. You can also file a grievance.

Your Rights: Yes. In Missouri, trans people incarcerated in MDOC facilities have been provided with gender-affirming care items like affirming clothing, undergarments, and canteen items.

Federal courts in Missouri have held that gender-affirming items can constitute medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria.

You will have the strongest case for receiving these gender-affirming items if you have received a formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria and your treating clinician recommends these items as part of your treatment plan.

Your Rights: Unfortunately, in practice, the State of Missouri has effectively banned access to medical gender-affirming care for incarcerated transgender people. In August 2023, Missouri’s SB 49 (the “SAFE Act”) banned access to gender-affirming surgery for incarcerated transgender people. Then on June 30, 2026, Missouri’s Governor signed HB 2009 into law, a new MDOC appropriations bill that prohibits state funds from covering gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy (“HRT”) for all transgender people incarcerated in state prisons. The one-sentence targeting trans inmates, buried on the final page of the twenty-page budget bill, reads in full: “No funds shall be expended for any cross-sex hormones, or gender transition surgery undertaken for the purpose of any gender transition.” The ban includes no exceptions for inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria or for those already receiving HRT medication, and it provides no guidance on how to safely taper an inmate off hormones while in state custody. HB 2009 is Missouri’s only anti-trans measure to become law in 2026. It took effect on July 2, 2026. *Note: On August 27, 2026, a lawsuit was filed in state court on behalf of a Missouri taxpayer challenging 18 distinct substantive-policy riders that the 103rd General Assembly embedded within eight of the general appropriation bills (including HB 2009) comprising the State’s fiscal year 2027 operating budget. The lawsuit alleges that the eight appropriations bills violate the single-subject and clear-title requirements under the Missouri Constitution. (See Mo. Const. art. III, § 23.) This lawsuit is ongoing.

*If staff refuse to evaluate you for gender dysphoria or fail to provide you with care, file a grievance and appeal through all levels.

Your Rights: Under current law, Missouri prison and jail officials are not required to use your correct pronouns, but officials may choose to do so.

Your Rights: Yes. You can legally change your name while you are incarcerated in Missouri. See RSMo. § 527.270 - 527.290.

See this guide from the MacArthur Justice Center (“MJC”) for more information on the process for legally changing your name pro se (without an attorney) while you’re in a Missouri prison. *Please be aware that some of the information in this guide may now be out of date, and as of May 1, 2026, MJC’s Missouri office is closed. 

You should also file a grievance as soon as possible if you face harm, abuse, or medical neglect while incarcerated. Please also be aware that you must first complete the internal appeals process before you can file a federal lawsuit about events in jail or prison. This means that you need to know the rules of any appeals (or “grievance”) process in your facility, including time limits on filing an appeal after something happens. In most prisons or jails, you will have to file a written complaint on a form that is provided.

Sample scenarios for when to file a grievance:

• If you have been assaulted by an officer or fellow inmate, you should file a grievance as soon as possible and appeal it through all available levels of appeal. If you believe you are in immediate danger of assault, you should tell a staff member you trust immediately (ex: a mental health worker, teacher, etc.).
• If staff refuse to evaluate you for gender dysphoria or fail to provide you with care, file a grievance and appeal through all levels.
• If you are placed in protective segregation and do not want to be there, file a grievance and all appeals about your placement. You should also appeal anything that seems unfair about your placement, such as not being able to participate in a hearing, not being told why you were moved to segregation, not being able to participate in programming or obtain a job, or not being told when you can get out.
• If your placement is based on so-called “safety concerns” and you would feel safer in a women’s facility (as a transgender woman), request such a transfer and file appeals if you do not get one.

*Check back soon for our new “How to File a Grievance in Missouri State Prison” guide.

If you are incarcerated in a federal facility, you should be aware of the President’s Day One executive order regarding “gender ideology,” which required discrimination against transgender people across much of the federal government. It included a specific mandate for the federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) to deny medical care to incarcerated transgender people in federal prisons, regardless of medical necessity, and to house them in facilities based on their sex assigned at birth, putting transgender women at particular risk of violence. Since then, BOP has stopped allowing incarcerated people in federal prisons to access clothing or hygiene items consistent with their gender identity and has barred gender affirming healthcare. The BOP has also required that incorrect pronouns be used for transgender people incarcerated in federal BOP custody.

The ACLU, ACLU of DC, and Transgender Law Center have filed a class action lawsuit (called Kingdom v. Trump) against this policy on behalf of all transgender people in federal prisons. The relief they are seeking would protect all people diagnosed with gender dysphoria who are receiving or would receive gender-affirming healthcare in federal BOP custody. *Check here and here for case updates.

Yes. Please check back for new materials coming soon.

If your question isn’t addressed above, you may submit it to showmemyrights@aclu-mo.org. Submissions are used to develop general guidance for the public and do not constitute individualized legal advice. This inbox is monitored regularly, but due to volume, we cannot guarantee an individual response to every email received.

This is one section of a multi-part guide. You can find the full guide here:

Trans Justice in MO

*Check back soon for our new “How to File a Grievance in Missouri State Prison” guide.

• Midwest Rainbow News Missouri resource
• Keyway Center for Diversion and Reentry Missouri resource
• MacArthur Justice Center’s Guide to Changing Your Name Pro Se (without an attorney) When You’re in a Missouri Prison Missouri resource (*Please be aware that some of the information in this guide may now be out of date, and as of May 1, 2026, MJC’s Missouri office is closed.)
• ACLU National’s Prisoner’s Rights Guide National resource
• ACLU National’s Kingdom v. Trump Q&A National resource
• Black & Pink National resource
• Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook National resource
• Just Detention International National resource
• LGBT Books to Prisoners National resource
• Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) National resource
• Advocates for Transgender Equality (A4TE) National resource
• Transgender Law Center (TLC) National resource
• The Prisoner Correspondence Project National resource
• Lavender Rights Project (LRP) National resource
• Trans Lifeline National resource
• Call BlackLine National resource

If you feel you have been the victim of discrimination based on your gender expression or identity, please consider contacting the ACLU of Missouri for help.