By Beth SchwartzapfelThis article originally published in The Marshall Project, a non-profit journalism publication focused on criminal justice. This article was published in partnership with The 19th.Photo by Gage Skidmore.Subscribe nowFirst, President Donald Trump issued an executive order prohibiting the use of federal funds for gender-affirming care. Then, in response to a lawsuit from prisoners, a judge temporarily blocked the order. The result, say employees and incarcerated transgender people, has been chaos and uncertainty as policies are adopted and applied unevenly throughout the federal prison system.At a federal womens prison, all the transgender women were rounded up and placed into a special segregated unit shortly after Trumps Jan. 20 order. The warden told them they would all be transferred to mens facilities and that the paperwork for those transfers was already being processed, one of the women said in a court filing, which did not name the prison. A few days later, they were moved back into the prisons general population, with no explanation.At another federal womens prison in Texas, a transgender man was due for a testosterone injection, but his nurse wasnt sure what to do. The facilitys warden was saying the policies might be this, or might be that, but we havent gotten anything in writing yet, said the nurse, who spoke on the condition she not be named because she is not authorized to speak to the press. Finally, after consulting with the facilitys pharmacist, she gave the man his medication. Id rather ask forgiveness than permission, she said.And at FCI Seagoville, a mens prison in Texas, an unsigned memo went out last week saying that the dozens of transgender women housed there would have to turn in their womens clothing and undergarments. They would also no longer be able to buy makeup or other womens items from the commissary, or have access to group therapy. Within a week, that memo was rescinded.The Bureau of Prisons has not issued formal guidance to its employees about how to implement Trumps order defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government, according to several current and former agency staffers who spoke to The Marshall Project on the condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to speak to the press. Everyone is afraid to say or do anything, said one former top bureau official. The executive team at the bureau wants guidance from the Justice Department, because they are afraid of getting fired. DOJ is in turmoil.Subscribe nowTransgender people in federal prison are being told one thing from one staff person and a totally different thing from another, said Shawn Meerkamper, an attorney at the Transgender Law Center, a nonprofit that does legal and advocacy work on behalf of the transgender community. Meerkamper described the situation as whiplash.Trumps executive order instructed federal agencies to stop recognizing transgender people and prohibited the use of federal funds for prisoners gender-affirming care. It specifically instructed the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that males are not detained in womens prisons or immigration detention centers.The memo distributed at the prison in Seagoville, Texas, said The Federal Bureau of Prisons intends to comply with the Executive Order in all respects.But the bureaus leadership in Washington, D.C. had not authorized the policy outlined in the memo, according to a staffer at Seagoville, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified because they werent permitted to speak about the memo. Somebody just kind of got the cart before the horse and decided, Lets do this, they said.Similar directives went out to prisoners and staff at a federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, according to a person familiar with that institution, and to a prison in Sheridan, Oregon, according to a Facebook post written by a person who identified themself as a prison employee there.Any other male joints make the trans inmates turn in their laundry issued dresses, bras, and panties? the staffer wrote on a private Facebook group for federal prison employees. We had one go on suicide watch over it. This employee did not respond to emails seeking additional information, but three days later posted again: Well Everyone, they gave back the undergarments and dresses yesterday.The vast majority of the 1,500 transgender women incarcerated in federal prisons are housed in mens prisons. Under both the Biden administration and the first Trump administration, they have had access to accommodations like womens clothing and toiletry items and permission to only be patted down by staff of the same gender.One bureau employee who disagreed with Trumps order said these accommodations were reasonable. Theres no extremism involved in giving an inmate a bra, said a bureau caseworker who is not authorized to speak to the press.Just 16 trans women are currently housed in womens prisons, according to documents the bureau filed in federal court as part of the recent lawsuit. Each of them was moved to a womens prison only after undergoing a lengthy process overseen by a panel of experts at the Bureau of Prisons called the Transgender Executive Council. In the last few weeks, a message went out to transgender people that they could no longer communicate with the council, according to attorneys for transgender women in both womens and mens facilities.Since at least 2022, the council has met monthly to offer advice and guidance on unique measures related to treatment and management needs of transgender inmates, according to a policy document that has since been removed from the bureaus website. Some transgender people and their advocates believe the council has been disbanded. The Bureau of Prisons did not respond to questions about the council or policies regarding care for transgender people in its custody.Last week, the bureaus acting director, William Lothrop, sent a message to the agencys six regional directors regarding transgender prisoners and noted that the bureaus health services division and reentry services division were working with the bureaus lawyers to finalize language regarding medical and mental health care.In addition to changes to health care and housing, transgender people have reported other smaller ways that Trumps order has upended their lives in prisons. Many officers have stopped using peoples preferred names and pronouns, according to prisoners and staff. Some prisoners also report being taunted and disrespected by staff, who they believe have been emboldened by the presidents order.Jenni Stallcup, a transgender woman incarcerated at the penitentiary in Coleman, Florida, said, I have already experienced the ugly vibes. A staff member the other day even called out, as I was on the sidewalk, telling me to Be readyyou have one more month and no more makeup.If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media