Inmate argues for sex change

BOSTON

Wearing lipstick, a scooped-neck sweater and nearly waist-length hair, the witness cried while describing what it feels like to be a woman trapped inside a man’s body.

“The greatest loss is the dying I do inside a little bit every day,” said Michelle Kosilek, an inmate who is serving a life sentence for murder.

Kosilek was Robert Kosilek when he was convicted in the killing of his wife. In 1993, while in prison, he legally changed his name to Michelle.

Since then, Kosilek has been fighting for the state Department of Correction to pay for sex-change surgery, which can cost from $10,000 to $20,000. After two lawsuits and two trials, the decision now rests with a federal judge.

Courts in several other states have ordered prison systems to allow such inmates to receive psychotherapy and, in some cases, hormone shots. But no inmate in the country has succeeded in getting a court to order a sex-change operation, advocates say.

“If people are not treated, they suffer tremendously,” said Shannon Minter, a board member of the Transgender Law and Policy Institute. “It’s just as cruel to withhold treatment for gender-identity disorder as it is to withhold treatment for any other medical issue.”

In Massachusetts, four of the 12 inmates diagnosed with what psychologists call “gender-identity disorder,” including Kosilek, are receiving hormone shots.

Inmates in several other states have sued prison officials for sex-change operations, arguing that denial of treatment would violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

“It’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard of,” said Wisconsin state Rep. Mark Gundrum, a Republican who helped write a state law that bars the Department of Correction from using tax dollars for such procedures.

The law was introduced after Wisconsin inmate Scott Konitzer filed a lawsuit seeking a sex-change operation. The law took effect in January, but is being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, a national advocacy group.