Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Prisoner Rights Run Amok in Sex-change Case

(Wikipedia Commons)
by Diane Dimond

I unequivocally oppose a recent pro-prisoner court order that you may find positively shocking. I know I did.


The prisoner at the center of the controversy is MichelleKosilek. But up until 1993, this person was known as Robert Kosilek. In 1990, Robert’s wife, Cheryl, already distressed over his drinking came home to find him dressed up in her clothes. A fight ensued and the trial court found Robert was guilty of strangling Cheryl with a wire and abandoning her naked body in the family car outside a local mall.

Just before Kosilek went on trial for Cheryl’s murder in 1993, he declared he was a woman trapped in a man’s body and legally changed his name to Michelle. Kosilek appeared in court with long luxurious hair and wearing eye makeup, rouge, women’s glasses, slim cut jeans and a set of dangling circle earrings. Despite self-identifying as a female, upon conviction, Kosilek was sentenced to an all-male prison in Norfolk, Massachusetts to serve life in prison without parole.

Over the years, Kosilek’s attorneys have repeatedly filed motions asking the court to order sex-reassignment surgery for the convicted murderer. In 2002, after specialists testified Kosilek did, indeed, suffer from severe gender identity disorder the court allowed Kosilek to begin receiving taxpayer funded psychotherapy, female hormone injections, laser hair removal and access to women’s underwear and make-up. All of that wasn’t enough for Kosilek’s peace of mind, however. Court documents revealed s/he  attempted self-castration and twice attempted suicide in prison.

Now, let’s pause here so I can be clear. I have no doubt that gender identity disorder exists and that it can be psychological hell for those who are born this way. But there are lots of people on the outside struggling with Kosilek’s problem, unable to come up with the money for a gender reassignment operation. Do we afford convicted killers health care rights that law abiding citizens don’t have? The answer is yes, according to a recent decision from U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf.

“It may seem strange that in the United States citizens do not generally have a constitutional right to adequate medical care, but the Eighth Amendment promises prisoners such care,” Judge Wolf wrote in ruling that the state of Massachusetts must pay for the prisoner’s sex-change operation. To do otherwise, Wolf ruled, would constitution cruel and unusual punishment.

Now, stop and think about this a minute. Here is a person who lives in the general population of an all – male prison. It may be one thing for him to dress up like the character Klinger from the old M*A*S*H* TV series but it might be something altogether more dangerous for Kosilek to actually become transgendered and think nothing will change within his testosterone driven prison community. Judge Wolf heard testimony from prison officials about the unique security problems Kosilek’s case would present but he dismissed the argument. As it stands now Kosilek gets his free operation but the state could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court which would delay things.

Other states have grappled with similar federal cases filed by prisoners wanting a sex change operation but I couldn’t find one where a judge actually ordered taxpayer funded surgery.

Judge Wolf’s apparently groundbreaking decision seems so shortsighted to me. He made it sound as if he had no choice in the matter, that it was a “medical necessity” for this prisoner. It’s as if the judge forgot that the state has already bent over backward to accommodate this prisoner’s numerous wishes over the years.

I’m not the only one who is outraged by this. After the ruling, U.S. Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts said Kosilek’s surgery would be, “An outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars.” A niece of Cheryl Kosilek nearly begged the state to quickly appeal the decision saying, “As far as I’m concerned, he deserves nothing. If he wants to attempt suicide … let him.”

Judge Wolf’s written ruling didn’t address what would happen to Kosilek after the operation. Would s/he be left to fend for her/himself in the all-male population or be transferred to a women’s prison? What if Kosilek decides he is unhappy with the results and wants further surgery? And, most important, what signal does this send to all the other poor but law-abiding souls who cannot afford the psychotherapy, the hormones, the gender reassignment surgery? For the truly desperate it seems to be an invitation to commit a really serious crime so they can advance their goal of changing sexes.

I can see providing a prisoner a heart transplant or expensive cancer treatments so they don’t die. That, to me, fits in the “medically necessary” category. But, to those Kosilek sympathizers who declare granting this operation is humane – I asked them one question: How humane was Robert Kosilek when he pulled that wire around his wife’s neck and tugged on it until it nearly took her head off? He’s gotten enough rewards for his murderous behavior.

3 comments:

iieeef said...

Though of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I find this posting to be very misguided and offensive. I'm surprised that you bothered to concede that Gender Identity Disorder actually exists when you spend the rest of your article essentially diminishing it.

First, to compare Gender Identity Disorder to someone dressing up as a character from a TV show is very naive. It betrays a level of misunderstanding about the disorder that essentially makes the rest of the post dismissible. Second, we are lucky to live in a society that takes care of its prisoners. Or should I say rather, we are lucky to live in a society that doesn't just throw away our "undesirables" and leave them to rot. We do provide health care. We must. It makes us civilized.

Imagine for a moment being a transgendered individual in an all male prison. I'm sure Michelle's life is HELL already. I'm sure of it. It seems to me that the only thing preventing michelle from entering an all female facility is being born a man. If she is able to have the surgery and becomes a female, it seems she can then move into the female prison to serve her time without fear of being raped daily, murdered or worse. Preventing her from having the surgery and keeping her in the hell of an all male prison IS cruel and unusual.

Ann Summerville said...

Great post. I don't get that it's cruel and unusual punishment to withhold this kind of medical treatment. Law abiding citizens put up with cruel and unusual punishment every day because they don't have the funds to help themselves or loved ones who need medical care. This just seems frivolous to me. I wonder how many people commit crimes to simply get free medical care. I read in the news that a man had taken a gun and shot people on a parade float simply because he needed a tooth extracted. There's a whole lot wrong with this picture.
Ann

California Girl said...

Great post and the first commentator to respond to this article is way off base.
I think the key here is "constitutional right to adequate medical care". This person has received above and beyond "adequate". He/she should have been left in the body he/she started out with. Last time I checked, laser hair removal was not a lifesaving medical treatment. To have taxpayers "fix' this problem is the cruel and unusual part of this story.