An appellate ruling that correction officials have acted with “deliberate indifference” by denying female hormone therapy to a transgendered child rapist is giving new hope to a convicted killer suing for a state-funded sex-change operation.
A lawyer for inmate Michelle Lynne Kosilek filed a plea Thursday in his decade-old case before U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf, saying a May 20 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston for inmate Sandy Jo Battista supports Kosilek’s similar claims of cruel and unusual punishment by the Department of Correction.
The ruling states DOC can no longer use inmate safety concerns, such as sexual assault, as an excuse for withholding hormone therapy from Battista, who is anatomically male, but identifies and lives as a woman.
“The department’s action is undercut by a composite of delays, poor explanations, missteps, changes in position and rigidities — common enough in bureaucratic regimes, but here taken to an extreme,” an appellate panel that included retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter wrote in its decision.
“Medical treatment often poses risks and invites trade-offs,” the court found.
Battista, 49, born David Megarry Jr., has been civilly committed as a sexually dangerous person since 2003.
He was convicted in 1983 of kidnapping a 10-year-old girl from Medway, raping her and stealing the money she’d earned selling fudge.
Kosilek, 62, who was born Robert Kosilek, is serving life for the 1990 strangulation of his wife Cheryl Kosilek in Mansfield.
Kosilek developed breasts from hormone therapy.
He is suing DOC both for permanent hair removal and sex reassignment on the taxpayers’ tab.
Kosilek’s attorney, Joseph L. Sulman, said, “Michelle is doing the same as always, the best she can while anticipating a favorable ruling from the court. The Battista decision shows how what she is going through is not unique.”
DOC spokeswoman Diane Wiffin declined comment.
What won't they use your tax dollars for?
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