Is it ever appropriate for a transgender or intersex inmate or resident to be searched by both a male officer and a female officer, the male officer searching the parts of the body that are anatomically male and the female officer searching parts of the body that are anatomically female?
No. The gender of the staff member searching a transgender or intersex inmate or resident will depend on the specific needs of the individual inmate or resident and on the operational concerns of the facility. Under most circumstances, this will be a case-by-case determination, which may change over the course of incarceration and should take into consideration the gender expression of the inmate or resident.
Making accommodations, if necessary, to search individuals according to gender identity would not violate the prohibitions on cross-gender searches in standards 115.15 (a)-(c) and standards 115.315 (a)-(c). Further, standards 115.15(f) and 115.315(f) state that the agency shall train security staff in how to conduct searches of transgender and intersex inmates or residents in a professional and respectful manner and in the least intrusive manner possible consistent with security needs. Requiring two officers to search transgender inmates or residents would be more intrusive than necessary.
For more information on addressing the needs of transgender or intersex inmates, please see the National Institute of Corrections resource page at http://nicic.gov/lgbti.