ATLANTA — Prison officials must treat an inmate’s gender identity condition just as they would treat any other medical or mental health condition, the Justice Department said in a court filing Friday.

The Southern Poverty Law Center in February filed a lawsuit against Georgia Department of Corrections officials on behalf of Ashley Diamond, a transgender woman. The lawsuit says prison officials have failed to provide adequate treatment for Diamond’s gender dysphoria, a condition that causes a person to experience extreme distress because of a disconnect between the birth sex and gender identity.

The Justice Department filed a brief in the case Friday reminding prison officials that the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires them to provide inmates with individualized assessment and care for the condition.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gwendolyn Hogan wrote in an email that the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

While similar cases have been brought in other courts, Justice Department officials said this is the first time the agency has gotten involved in one of these cases.

That action signals this administration’s commitment to protecting transgender people in this context and sends a message to state officials that the federal government has taken a position on the substantive legal issues in the case, said Georgia State University law professor Russell Covey.

Diamond, who’s 36, has identified as female since she was a child and began hormone therapy when she was 17, the lawsuit says.

Only inmates identified as transgender during their initial intake are eligible for gender dysphoria treatment under Georgia Department of Corrections policy, but the personnel who do those screenings often aren’t familiar with the condition, the lawsuit says. Despite having noticeable feminine characteristics and telling department staff she was transgender, Diamond was not evaluated for gender dysphoria and wasn’t referred for treatment and her hormone therapy was halted, the lawsuit says.

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