Sponsors (2)
The bill creates a uniform, birth-sex-based housing rule intended to protect victims' privacy and simplify placement decisions, but it increases safety, rights, operational, and funding risks for transgender people, correctional systems, and jurisdictions that cannot or will not certify compliance.
People in federal prisons and in detention facilities that receive DOJ grants will be assigned housing according to a clear, birth-sex-based statutory rule, creating uniform placement standards and simplifying placement decisions for officials.
Women, sexual-assault victims, and other inmates concerned about privacy will be less likely to share overnight housing with people of a different biological sex, which may reduce privacy and safety risks.
Transgender inmates will likely be placed in housing that does not match their gender identity, increasing risks of harassment, isolation, assault, and mental-health harms.
States and localities that decline or cannot certify compliance with the birth-based housing standard risk losing DOJ grant funding, potentially reducing resources for criminal-justice programs and victim services in those jurisdictions.
A rigid, birth-based definition of 'biological sex' may create administrative burdens and trigger legal disputes for prison officials and courts over individuals with ambiguous characteristics or medical histories.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced October 8, 2025 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress October 8, 2025
Requires the federal Bureau of Prisons to assign and house people in prison by their “biological sex” as defined by chromosomes, hormones, gonads, and nonambiguous genitalia at birth, and generally bars placing people of different biological sexes together except for brief, non-overnight situations. It also conditions certain federal grant funds to states on the state certifying that detention facilities similarly use biological sex for housing decisions and generally prohibit co-location of different biological sexes, with the same narrow temporary exception. The measure creates a new federal statutory definition and placement rule for Bureau of Prisons housing and amends federal grant law to make state receipt of specified Justice Department grants contingent on state certification of comparable policies. It includes a technical insertion in the U.S. Code to add the new provision.