Inmate sex change
Robert Kosilek, who now wishes to be called “Michelle,” was convicted of killing his wife in 1990. Kosilek got a name change, has received female hormone treatments and has been living as a woman in an all-male Massachusetts prison.
Kosilek has been trying for more than a decade to force the Department of Correction to provide sex change surgery.
His lawyers made new arguments this week based on a ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of another transgender inmate in Massachusetts.
In that case, the 1st Circuit agreed that the state Department of Correction had shown deliberate indifference to “Sandy” Battista’s medical needs by repeatedly denying his request for female hormone treatments. The department had cited security concerns. But the court rejected that, finding that the security claims had been “undercut by a collection of pretexts, delays and misrepresentations.”
Prison officials also have cited security concerns in the Kosilek case, saying that — as The Associated Press reports the situation — “allowing her to have the surgery could make her a target for sexual assaults by other inmates.”
We aren’t making any of this up. In fact, the Kosilek case is not entirely unique. Steve Suwe, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Corrections, says about six related cases have come up in the two decades he’s been with the department.
“When they come in, it has to be proven that they’ve already been on the hormone therapy,” Mr. Suwe explains. “We won’t start the hormone therapy for them; there has to be verified proof from outside medical authorities that that person has been on that. We don’t pay for any surgeries.”
Until the courts order otherwise, that is.
In the end, what should be recalled is that we’re discussing convicted felons, most of whom don’t end up in the Gray-Bar Hotel for their first or second offense. Inmates deserve humane treatment and decent food. Otherwise, it’s prison — not a free experimental clinic.
Will no one have the courage to say enough is enough?
