For the first time in its history, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has been ordered to immediately secure a qualified surgeon so that a transgender prisoner, Cristina Nichole Iglesias, can receive gender-affirming surgery.

The Independent Monitor overseeing the federal consent decree designed to reform policing on the streets of Chicago issued her fifth report describing progress toward implementing the decree.

The City of Chicago and Illinois Attorney General secured a three-year extension to the federal consent decree process.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois responded the recent debate and inaction in the Illinois Senate regarding the confirmation of members to the Illinois Prison Review Board.

Governor Pritzker announced that his administration is launching an assessment of needs for those seeking health and mental health care from state agencies, an assessment that also will contemplate how Illinois can better coordinate this care. 

In a unanimous decision issued late last month, the Illinois Human Rights Commission confirmed that excluding gender-affirming care from employee insurance plans violates Illinois’ civil rights laws, including protections for gender identity.

A vote on a proposed ordinance to empower the City of Chicago to use a discredited civil asset forfeiture statute in order to seize property from alleged “street gangs” was delayed in City Council. 

On Tuesday, attorneys for Cristina Nichole Iglesias filed a response to the federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) decision to approve Ms. Iglesias for gender-affirming surgery—but delay referring her to a surgeon for an initial consultation until mid-April 2022 at the earliest.