Disgusted with the legal system.... This is unbelievable
Quote:
Judge: Preventing gender change could be cruel and unusual punishment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 17, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
A federal judge says it could be cruel and unusual punishment to deprive a convicted killer from getting a sex change, and taxpayers must pick up the tab for medical treatment leading to the procedure.
Mark Brooks, who believes he' s a " girl inside" and calls himself Jessica Lewis, and is suing the Clinton Correctional Facility in Putnam County, N.Y., for $500,000 to finance a gender transfer.
His suit dates back to 2000 when authorities reportedly ignored numerous requests for treatment such as hormone therapy, electrolysis, breast implants, vocal-chord modulation and " genital reassignment," reports the Albany Times Union.
Brooks scored a victory this week when U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn ruled the suit could proceed and that prison administrators allow him to consult with physicians about his gender-identity disorder.
Also known as gender dysphoria and transsexualism, GID is a recognized psychiatric disorder in the medical and psychiatric realm.
" Prison officials are ... obliged to determine whether plaintiff has a serious medical need and, if so, to provide him with at least some treatment," Judge Kahn wrote in a 19-page decision, according to the New York Law Journal.
Kahn says decisions about treatment need to be made by medical professionals, not prison administrators, and cited the Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment which he said can include " deliberate indifference to serious medical needs."
Ironically, if a prisoner started gender reassignment before incarceration, the state would pay the costs. But it denies it to those diagnosed after a sentence commences.
Kahn called that a " puzzling distinction."
" Surely inmates with diabetes, schizophrenia or any other serious medical need are not denied treatment simply because their conditions were not diagnosed before incarceration," he wrote.
Brooks, 34, was convicted in 1990 for a murder in upstate New York and is serving a sentence of 50 years to life.
Reports say he was aware of his feminine identity as a youngster but didn' t seek any treatment until reading about his condition once incarcerated.
I say let him consult all he wants, as long as he pays for any consultation and doesnt' waste A penny of taxpayers money. If he wasn' t in prison, who would be picking up the tab for this ??? Certainly not the public !!!!!
Like fng said. this country is so screwed with the priorities it has, we are really in big trouble if this one goes thru ~!!!!
And they are wondering where to cut taxes to save money ??? Give me one week to cut some programs.....we' ll see whats left !
Quote:
Brooks scored a victory this week when U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn ruled the suit could proceed and that prison administrators allow him to consult with physicians about his gender-identity disorder.
__________________
It' s a dog eat dog world, and I' m wearing Milkbone underwear
I think I could help this guy out. I' ve been itching to see how my shotgun shoots turkey loads anyway!
All kidding aside, I find it truly pathetic that there is a single judge in the land that would give this guy two minutes of their time, let alone finding in his favor because prohibiting his sex change operation, to be performed at taxpayer' s expense, is " cruel and unusual" punishment. Forcing someone to stay the sex they were born as isn' t punishment. It would be different if the state were trying to force to TO have one. The state should be more concerned about treating the mental condition causing him to think he' s a girl. After all, being male isn' t the real problem, thinking he ought to be female is.
Killer to get sex change at taxpayer expense?
