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Massachusetts judge approves taxpayer-funded sex change for inmate

jamesrage

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Tax payers in Massachusetts should be furious. If a man wants to pretend to be something he is not then let him do it on his own dime.

Massachusetts judge approves taxpayer-funded sex change for inmate | Fox News

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered state prison officials to provide taxpayer-funded sex-reassignment surgery to a transgender inmate serving life in prison for murder.
Michelle Kosilek was born male but has received hormone treatments and now lives as a woman in an all-male prison. Robert Kosilek was convicted of murder in the killing of his wife in 1990.
U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf is believed to be the first federal judge to order prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery for a transgender inmate.
Kosilek first sued the Massachusetts Department of Correction 12 years ago. Two years later, Wolf ruled that Kosilek was entitled to treatment for gender-identity disorder but stopped short of ordering surgery. Kosilek sued again in 2005, arguing that the surgery is a medical necessity.
In his ruling Tuesday, Wolf found that surgery is the "only adequate treatment" for Kosilek's "serious medical need."
"The court finds that there is no less intrusive means to correct the prolonged violation of Kosilek's Eighth Amendment right to adequate medical care," Wolf wrote in his 126-page ruling.
 
The people of MA seem to be okay with a lot of this sort of nonsense. As long as no federal funds are being used, I say let them spend their money on whatever stupid thing their heart's desire.
 
How is a federal judge a MA judge?

I disagree with the ruling. Completely. Another few years of prison activity and I'm sure his sex change would be a natural side effect.
 
The other prisoners should chip in and help pay for this golden opportunity to have some ***** in an all male facility.
 
I think this is a situation when the federal court got out-lawyered. This is a disgrace in a bad economic time when states are scrambling to find money to pay for necessaries like teachers.
 
I missed the federal judge part, as obvious as it was - my bad. If I was governor of MA I'd tell the court, you want it done - YOU pay for it, because we're not. Make a big stink all during the convention. Chances are good the feds will offer to pay for it just to quiet the issue.
 
Tax payer money should only pay for life-saving procedures for inmates not sentenced to life w/o parole and/or the death penalty. While I wouldn't call a sex-change operation completely insignificant, it isn't a procedure that is necessary to sustain life and should therefore not be funded through tax payers.
 
This is one of the worst rulings I have ever heard of. This judge was appointed by Ronald Reagan, in 1985. The judge left the decision to house this inmate after the reassignment surgery up to prison officials. I am glad this decision may be appealed. On the up side there is a great seafood place right next to the courthouse...:)


"But Wolf, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, found that the security concerns are "either pretextual or can be dealt with." He said it would be up to prison officials to decide how and where to house Kosilek after the surgery. Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the prisons department, said,... "We are reviewing the decision and exploring our appellate options."

Massachusetts judge approves taxpayer-funded sex change for inmate
 
I missed the federal judge part, as obvious as it was - my bad. If I was governor of MA I'd tell the court, you want it done - YOU pay for it, because we're not. Make a big stink all during the convention. Chances are good the feds will offer to pay for it just to quiet the issue.

We might not be giving the convict enough credit. If you were stuck in prison as a man for the rest of your life how would you be able to be around women again? Watch this inmate petition the State to be transferred to a women's prison.
 
This is one of the worst rulings I have ever heard of. This judge was appointed by Ronald Reagan, in 1985. The judge left the decision to house this inmate after the reassignment surgery up to prison officials. I am glad this decision may be appealed. On the up side there is a great seafood place right next to the courthouse...:)


"But Wolf, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, found that the security concerns are "either pretextual or can be dealt with." He said it would be up to prison officials to decide how and where to house Kosilek after the surgery. Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the prisons department, said,... "We are reviewing the decision and exploring our appellate options."

Massachusetts judge approves taxpayer-funded sex change for inmate

If the convict's evidence included medical reasons and was presented in solid form the judge may not have had much of a choice going by the 8th amendment.
 
If the convict's evidence included medical reasons and was presented in solid form the judge may not have had much of a choice going by the 8th amendment.


The judge is reaching into the ind of the inmate and ordering the surgery to relive "mental anguish". I have a very difficult time with the setting this precedent. The linchpin argument is based on a self reported basis and there are no clear guidelines. This case is a Pandora's Box and can open the door for more cases seeking relief based upon self reported "mental anguish".
 
The judge is reaching into the ind of the inmate and ordering the surgery to relive "mental anguish". I have a very difficult time with the setting this precedent. The linchpin argument is based on a self reported basis and there are no clear guidelines. This case is a Pandora's Box and can open the door for more cases seeking relief based upon self reported "mental anguish".

The inmate would have had to have presented convincing medical evidence so I'm sure some Docs signed off on the mental anguish qualifier but like I said, the ruling is BS.
 
Now everybody who wants this type of surgery, can commit a crime, go to prison and get free treatment.
 
Now everybody who wants this type of surgery, can commit a crime, go to prison and get free treatment.

I don't think many people will trade life in prison for a genital adjustment.

I do remember the guy who robbed a bank for $1 then sat down in the lobby and waited for the police to arrest him because he needed treatment he could not afford.
 
This is a special kind of stupid.
 
FYI this guy is a Reagan appointee:

Wolf was a lecturer at Harvard Law School from 1989 to 1990, and a lecturer at Boston College Law School in 1992.
Wolf was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on March 8, 1985, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 3, 1985, and received his commission on April 4, 1985. Wolf has served as chief judge for the District Court for the District of Massachusetts since 2006.
[edit]

Mark Lawrence Wolf - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Tax payers in Massachusetts should be furious. If a man wants to pretend to be something he is not then let him do it on his own dime.

Massachusetts judge approves taxpayer-funded sex change for inmate | Fox News

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered state prison officials to provide taxpayer-funded sex-reassignment surgery to a transgender inmate serving life in prison for murder.
Michelle Kosilek was born male but has received hormone treatments and now lives as a woman in an all-male prison. Robert Kosilek was convicted of murder in the killing of his wife in 1990.
U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf is believed to be the first federal judge to order prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery for a transgender inmate.
Kosilek first sued the Massachusetts Department of Correction 12 years ago. Two years later, Wolf ruled that Kosilek was entitled to treatment for gender-identity disorder but stopped short of ordering surgery. Kosilek sued again in 2005, arguing that the surgery is a medical necessity.
In his ruling Tuesday, Wolf found that surgery is the "only adequate treatment" for Kosilek's "serious medical need."
"The court finds that there is no less intrusive means to correct the prolonged violation of Kosilek's Eighth Amendment right to adequate medical care," Wolf wrote in his 126-page ruling.

She isnt pretending to be anything she isnt. However I agree with the overall point in your post. Even though I believe that SRS is medically necessary to treat GID I dont believe that it should be done on the taxpayers dime.
 
Now everybody who wants this type of surgery, can commit a crime, go to prison and get free treatment.

Or an easier way is to move to one of the many countries that do it for free and live there for a few years until you are eligible for the free surgery.
 
She isnt pretending to be anything she isnt. However I agree with the overall point in your post. Even though I believe that SRS is medically necessary to treat GID I dont believe that it should be done on the taxpayers dime.

HE is pretending to be something he isn't.If he was born a she then he wouldn't need drugs and surgery to half ass make himself look like a woman.
 
HE is pretending to be something he isn't.If he was born a she then he wouldn't need drugs and surgery to half ass make himself look like a woman.

Im not claiming that she was born a she. Im saying her gender identity is female and by getting hormones and surgery she isnt pretending to be something she is not. In fact she is finally NOT pretending to be something she isnt. Gender identity has nothing to do with whats between your legs.
 
HE is pretending to be something he isn't.If he was born a she then he wouldn't need drugs and surgery to half ass make himself look like a woman.

I am firmly of the belief people should be able to choose for themselves how they want to live. Not convicts who are living in prison for committing a crime and certainly I don't want to pay for it.
 
No and another example of why this country is going broke. We can not afford the increasingly bizarre ideologies to be paid for by everyone else.
 
... So a Reagan appointee who served under Romney voted in favor of prison officials paying for somebody's sex reassignment surgery? Massachusetts is one of those states where weird **** happens and nobody seems to know why.
 
... So a Reagan appointee who served under Romney voted in favor of prison officials paying for somebody's sex reassignment surgery? Massachusetts is one of those states where weird **** happens and nobody seems to know why.

Can you honestly say that Reagan would have been able to foresee that this judge would approve cases, let alone see a case, dealing with a surgery that was in it's infancy when he was leaving office?

As far as the number of weird things happening in Massachusetts, I can only assume it is the age of the state, maybe senility is setting in. :lol:
 
As far as the number of weird things happening in Massachusetts, I can only assume it is the age of the state, maybe senility is setting in. :lol:

In my experience it has to do with a very cloistered perspective and attitude.
 
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