Prison Sex Change? WTF?
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) – The new commissioner of the state’s prison system said Tuesday he plans to re-examine the case of a convicted killer suing the Department of Correction to try to get a sex-change operation.
Prison officials have strenuously opposed a request from Michelle Kosilek to have the surgery, saying it could make her a target for sexual assault by other inmates.
But Department of Correction Commissioner Harold Clarke, who took over the department in November, said he has not decided whether to continue to fight Kosilek’s request.
“I need to take a look at the information presented before I arrived, and with a fresh set of eyes, closely scrutinize it,” Clarke said after a status hearing on Kosilek’s federal lawsuit.
Robert Kosilek was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife, Cheryl, in 1990. Kosilek legally changed her name to Michelle in 1993 and has been living as a woman in an all-male prison in Norfolk.
Kosilek first sued the Department of Correction in 2000, claiming its refusal to pay for a sex-change operation violates her Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment.
In 2002, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf ruled that prison officials had failed to adequately treat Kosilek’s gender identity disorder, but stopped short of ordering the state to allow the sex-change operation. Wolf found the Department of Correction had not violated Kosilek’s Eighth Amendment rights because Kosilek did not prove that the correction commissioner had shown “deliberate indifference” to Kosilek’s medical needs.
Kosilek, 58, sued again in 2005, saying the hormone treatments, laser hair removal and psychotherapy she has received since Wolf’s 2002 ruling were not enough to relieve her anxiety and depression.
For the last year, Wolf has been weighing whether to order the correction department to allow the surgery. Several medical experts who testified for Kosilek, as well as several doctors retained by the correction department’s health provider, said they believe the surgery is medically necessary for Kosilek, who has twice tried to commit suicide in prison. But other experts hired by the correction department said Kosilek does not need the surgery.
Kosilek’s request was strenuously opposed by Clarke’s predecessor, Kathleen Dennehy, an appointee of Republican former Gov. Mitt Romney. Romney’s successor, Gov. Deval Patrick, appointed Clarke.
Wolf ordered Clarke to attend Tuesday’s hearing after Kosilek’s attorneys said they wanted to hear Clarke’s position on the case. He is scheduled to testify May 12.
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Are you fucking kidding me? Seriously. You murder your fucking wife, decide to go transgender, and now you’re whining cause you’re depressed? Yes, fucker, you’re depressed because you killed your wife, were caught and now your skank ass is rotting away in jail!
This is so fucking infuriating to me. I can’t believe he actually thinks he has a right to make the tax payers pay for his operation. There are thousands of trans gender youth in the world, in the US alone who are law abiding citezens, who are working hard to save up the money for their operation. I don’t care of you’re a man, wanting to be a woman, or a woman wanting to be a man. I believe that everyone should have the freedom to express themselves, sexually or otherwise, but you lose those rights when you’re sitting in your cell.
You should have thought about that before you murdered your wife. You should have considered all of this before you became a convicted felon. You’ve lost your right to bear arms, to vote, to leave the country…but you think you have the right to ask the Government in a time of economic crisis, for upwards of 100, 000 dollars to have a surgery that isn’t really even done in the United States on a regular basis. Do you even have a clue what kind of pain you’re going to be in?
Let me enlighten you, fucker. Having breasts hurts, no matter how pretty they make look in that new Vicky Secret’s bra, or how much you’re going to like to fondle them, I can garauntee that Bubba, your cellie is going to like fondling them too. And let’s not forget the hormone treatments, and though you may never have a period, you’re going to have a vagina. It’ll start really small, like a child, and you’ll be forced to shove things inside of it, spreaders, in order to make it normal….but it hurts, it’s one of the most excruciating amounts of pain you can imagine….
And what happens when you change your mind, and your adam’s apple has been shaves, and your penis and testicles have been removed, and you realize that this possible identity crisis you’re going through is over and you want to be a man again? Are you going to whine and throw a fit, wasting precious resources and court time in order to plea to have everything put back on?
This is fucking crazy. You don’t deserve to be happy. You’re in prison. It’s not fucking Disneyland, and you’re no fucking Cinderella.
F
