Transformative trans incarceration research: now and into the future

Trans people across many parts of the world are subsumed and inculcated by cisnormative and regulatory logics. In recent years, the rights and visibility of trans individuals have come under increased and disproportionate scrutiny. The hostile socio-politico-medico climate surrounding trans rights manifests in various ways, from discriminatory laws and policies to trans rights being ‘weaponized’ by right-wing populists and widespread societal prejudice. Since 2021, in the United States (US) hundreds of state laws and policies have been introduced targeting trans people’s healthcare access, legal recognition, and visibility in public spaces (ACLU, Citation2024). For example, Florida Senate Bill HB1557—“Don’t Say Gay or Trans” - that curtails the discussion of LGBTQ+ topics in schools (Florida State Legislature, Citation2022); Arizona State Bill SB1700 that prohibits books that “promote gender fluidity or gender pronouns” (Arizona State Legislature, Citation2023); and Kansas Senate Bill 180—that disallows any legal position for a person with a gender identity not matching the gender assigned at birth (Kansas State Legislature, Citation2023).