Pennsylvania

1. Policy: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Prison Rape Elimination Act Policy Statement, September 2016 (Pennsylvania has a bifurcated system; county and state facilities are run separately).
2. Language:
   1. There is a Gender Review Committee (GRC) that makes the decisions regarding placement.
   2. Trans, GNC, and Intersex prisoners are evaluated every 6 months to think about their housing situation. 

Local

Sheriff’s Office City & County of Philadelphia

1. Policy: Interaction With Transgender Individuals
2. Language:
   1. Gender Classification Procedures on New Commits/Arrestees (NOTE: Supervisors should always be notified when a transgender individual comes into custody).
      1. The supervisor shall be chiefly responsible for directing staff on next steps of processing and that all policies are adhered to:
         1. An individual’s gender will be classified as it appears on their government-issued identification card.
         2. The exception to government-issued identification card policy are those individuals arrested who are post-operative gender re-assigned from:
            1. Male-to-female will be processed as female
            2. Female-to-male will be processed as male
         3. In the event that a government-issued identification card is unavailable, and the individual has not had sex reassignment surgery, the following criteria will be used to determine gender:
            1. If the individual arrested states they were assigned male at birth, they will be classified as male.
            2. If the individual arrested states they were assigned female at birth, will be classified as female.
         4. In the event that there is uncertainty regarding the appropriate classification of an individual’s gender, a supervisor will be consulted for further guidance on the appropriate classification.
   2. Cell-room Procedures For Transgender Individuals
      1. Whenever practical, transgender new commits will be housed in single cell occupancy.
      2. Officers are required to search all new commits they process, even if the prisoner has just been searched by the arresting and/or the transporting officer.
      3. Officers that are assigned to cell room operations must be fully cognizant of the gender identity or expression of all new commits/arrestees and prisoners being processed or waiting for court so that accurate gender information is recorded and inconsistencies properly noted and documented.
      4. The supervisor and/or commanding officer shall ensure that all necessary paperwork is complete, accurate and inclusive of any and all gender identity related information, issues and concerns.
      5. The supervisor and/or commanding officer shall ensure all procedures are followed.

“No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.”

Nelson Mandela