Taxpayers must fund sex reassignment surgery for an inmate who murdered an 11-month-old baby, a judge in Indiana has ruled.
Born Jonathan C Richardson, the inmate now known as Autumn Cordellionè is serving a 55-year prison sentence after being convicted of murder by strangulation in 2001. The victim was Cordellionè’s stepdaughter.
The inmate has sought sex reassignment surgery, including an orchiectomy and vaginoplasty, arguing it is the “only remedy” to treat “persistent gender dysphoria”.
The state of Indiana prohibits its prison service from funding gender reassignment surgeries for its inmates.
But the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the Indiana Department of Corrections on Cordellionè’s behalf, arguing the state law violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment”.
The lawsuit, first brought in 2023, said Cordellionè has identified as a woman since the age of six but was only diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2020 and has been prescribed female hormones and testosterone blockers.
Cordellionè has “consistently taken” the hormone medications ever since and has been receiving other accommodations behind bars in an all-male facility, including women’s “panties, make-up, and form-fitting clothing”, the lawsuit said.
Attempted castration
Court filings revealed Cordellionè has a history of self-harm, including an attempted castration.
The ACLU argued the next step of receiving sex reassignment surgery, or gender-affirming surgery, was “a medical necessity”.
“She believes that the only remedy for her persistent gender dysphoria, and the serious harm it causes her, is to receive gender-affirming surgery, specifically an orchiectomy and vaginoplasty,” it said in court filings.
A federal judge in Indiana has now agreed that denying the surgery would be unconstitutional.
“Specifically, Ms Cordellioné has shown that her gender dysphoria is a serious medical need, and that, despite other treatments … provided her to treat her gender dysphoria, she requires gender-affirming surgery to prevent a risk of serious bodily and psychological harm,” Judge Richard Young said in his ruling.
He ordered Indiana’s Department of Corrections to take “all reasonable actions” to ensure the killer receives the sex reassignment surgery.
The state’s attorney-general vowed to fight the ruling. Todd Rokita, a Republican, told Fox News: “Taxpayers do not want to pay for these kinds of surgeries.
“The science is not at all settled that this is a proper procedure or that not doing this procedure amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.”
“You can undoubtedly expect our office to appeal this decision,” he added in a post on X.
Ken Falk, the ACLU of Indiana’s legal director, said the ruling marked “a significant victory for transgender individuals” in the state’s prisons.
“Denying evidence-based medical care to incarcerated people simply because they are transgender is unconstitutional. We are pleased that the court agreed,” he said.
Cordellionè was convicted of strangling the 11-month-old baby while her mother — the murderer’s then wife — was out at work on Sept 12, 2001.
According to Fox News, Cordellionè filed a separate lawsuit last year against a prison chaplain for allegedly preventing the inmate from wearing a hijab outside of a cell despite identifying as a Muslim woman.
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