US: Prison officials continue appeal against gender reassignment ruling for trans prisoner
Prison officials in Massachusetts have said they will continue to appeal against a judge’s decision to allow gender reassignment surgery to a trans prisoner paid for by the state.
Michelle Kosilek was granted the surgery back in 2012 after years of legal battles to be allowed hormone therapy and hair removal treatment whilst incarcerated.
After an appeal against the ruling, three weeks ago, a three-judge panel of the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals held up the original ruling by Judge Mark Wolf that Ms Kosilek should be allowed the surgery.
The panel said that Ms Kosilek should receive the surgery as treatment of her gender dysphoria “even if that treatment strikes some as odd or unorthodox.”
The Massachusetts Department of Correction has said it will continue to appeal, by requesting a hearing by the full court.
“While we acknowledge the legitimacy of a gender identity disorder diagnosis, DOC’s appeal is based on the lower court’s significant expansion of the standard for what constitutes adequate care under the Eighth Amendment, and on substantial safety concerns regarding Ms. Kosilek’s post-surgery needs,” the DOC said in a statement Friday.
Ms Kosilek was convicted of murdering then spouse Cheryl Kosilek back in 1990.
