The Justice Department is proposing to move biological male transgender inmates currently housed in federal women's prisons into a segregated unit at a Texas prison.

The move is an effort the Trump administration said would protect the inmates while complying with competing federal court orders, the Washington Examiner reported on Tuesday.

The plan, disclosed in court filings in Jane Doe v. Blanche, would transfer the inmates to a secure, separate wing at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.

The specialized housing unit would be isolated from the facility's female population while allowing the inmates to remain at a women's prison rather than being transferred to men's facilities.

The proposal marks the latest legal battle over the Trump administration's policy of housing federal prisoners according to their biological sex.

Government attorneys argued that the plan satisfies a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who temporarily blocked the Bureau of Prisons from transferring 14 biological male inmates who identify as women into men's prisons after finding they were likely to face "imminent and irreparable harm" absent relief.

Lamberth's order, however, did not require that the inmates remain integrated with the general female prison population, according to the Justice Department.

The proposed arrangement also aligns with a separate lawsuit, Fleming v. Warden T. Rule, in which female inmates successfully sought a court order requiring biological male prisoners at FMC-Carswell to be housed separately from women.

That order established what the Justice Department previously described as a segregated "miniature men's prison" inside the facility.

Four of the transgender plaintiffs have already been moved into the specialized unit under the Fleming order, with separate shower schedules and other measures designed to prevent contact between male and female inmates, court filings said.

The transgender inmates are now asking Lamberth to block the transfers, arguing the segregated housing effectively places them in restrictive confinement and violates his earlier injunction, according to the Washington Examiner.

Attorneys representing the inmates contend the separate unit limits access to medical appointments, legal visits, educational programming, recreation, and meaningful social interaction.

Declarations filed by four plaintiffs allege they have experienced worsening mental health, renewed gender dysphoria, and, in one case, a return of suicidal thoughts since being placed in the segregated housing unit.

The plaintiffs are represented by the National Center for LGBTQ Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders.

Rhonda Fleming, the lead plaintiff in the separate lawsuit brought by female inmates, defended the Justice Department's proposal, saying it addresses the transgender inmates' stated concerns about sexual assault while protecting women housed at the prison.

"If they all claim to be women, what is the big deal with them being in one area?" Fleming told the Washington Examiner. "These men want access to women, but not each other."

The Justice Department has until Friday to respond to the inmates' emergency motion seeking enforcement of Lamberth's injunction. The plaintiffs' reply is due before oral arguments scheduled for July 29, when the court will consider whether the administration's plan complies with its earlier order.