Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Cruel And Unusual...

Criminals in our state prisons. You pay for their food, clothing and general medical care. Now, you may end up paying for their sex change surgery. What?!?!? That's right. Tax payer dollars for the sex change of a convicted murderer...

Robert Kosilek, a man serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife is asking a federal judge to order the state to pay for a sex-change operation for him, saying that denying him the surgery amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

I can’t even imagine seriously considering this. Never mind doing this. Never mind paying for it! So, why is state funding for prisoner sex changes, something insurance companies won’t pay for, even a possibility?

Blame it on the federal court. That’s where Michelle, once Robert, Kosilek took her case...

A psychiatrist testified Tuesday that he believes Robert Kosilek will kill himself if state correction officials refuse to allow the surgery and Kosilek is unable to complete his transformation into a woman.

Kosilek, fifty-seven, was convicted of strangling his wife, Cheryl, in 1990.

In 2002, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf ruled that Kosilek, who now goes by the name of Michelle, was entitled to treatment for gender identity disorder, but stopped short of ordering the state to pay for the sex-change operation.

Since then, Kosilek has received psychotherapy, female hormone treatments and laser hair removal. Kosilek, who wears his hair long and tucked behind his ears, has developed larger breasts since beginning hormone treatments.

Kosilek sued the Department of Correction for the second time last year, saying that numerous psychiatrists who had examined him; including two of the DOC's own experts; had determined that a sex change operation was "medically necessary."

Two psychiatrists will now testify that Kosilek functions "at a very high level" and that a sex-change operation is not medically necessary though.

I seriously hope they don't rule in his favor. Cruel and unusual, I don't think so. Since his motive for killing his wife was so that he could be free to live his life as a woman, I think denying him this surgery would be the most appropriate punishment the state could give.

4 Comments:

Blogger Tracy said...

I can't believe you haven't written about this one :

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/31/national/main1672058.shtml

31/5/06 21:56  
Blogger Digital Fortress said...

I can't believe this guy is still breathing, let alone that he is wasting the valuable time of our courts with this tripe. He murdered his wife and his mitigating factors is that she was keeping him from living as a woman? So, then is your aggravating factor that you are a total loon? Sheesh!

Uproar is right Season! He couldn't be housed in the male prison or the female prison..Would the tax payers have to build a special facility just for "her"?

Tracy: I think your link was cut-off, I couldn't see what it was you were mentioning.

31/5/06 22:31  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok Bert, I was reading some of your posts here and I have a question. When and where did you become an expert on all of these topics? Have your eyes turned into big 17" squares or are you part of a State Intelligence Fusion Center hidden away absorbing all of the knowledge you can.

Sabo (still a deucer)

1/6/06 10:18  
Blogger Digital Fortress said...

Briscoe!

You've finally skulked down from the beautiful Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky to see what all the fuss is about this new-fangled gadget called the "internet". Welcome!

I'm no expert. I'm just a mere cog here at the Ministry Of Truth doing my part for the "Two Minutes' Hate", then I go home and pass out after ingesting copious amounts of Victory Gin. ;)

Once a deucer, always a deucer...

1/6/06 20:56  

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