Posted on 01/23/2005 4:12:48 PM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
MILWAUKEE (AP) A male Wisconsin inmate who has received state-paid hormone therapy for the last 5 years to become a woman is suing prison officials for not finishing the sex change process.
The suit was filed by Scott Konitzer who now uses the name Donna Dawn Konitzer. Konitzer, who has gender identity disorder, is serving 123 years for multiple armed robberies and for stabbing another inmate.
The suit is pending in federal court in Milwaukee.
The department has been providing Konitzer, 40, with hormone therapy to stimulate female development since 1999 but will not allow genital surgery.
Konitzer claims a prison doctor said the surgery would follow the hormone treatments, and the refusal to follow through violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
Konitzer, who looks female because of the hormones, also objects to being housed in male prisons, where male guards do the strip searches and inmates share communal showers. Konitzer is not allowed to wear a bra or women's clothing.
People with the gender identity disorder have a strong and persistent discomfort with their birth gender and wish to live as the other, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a reference book used by mental health practitioners around the country.
The disorder causes people to have trouble functioning in society and can lead to severe depression, genital mutilation and suicide. It is relatively rare, affecting 1 in 30,000 people born male and 1 in 100,000 people born female, according to the manual.
``I don't think you can pass your psychiatry boards without acknowledging this as a real disease. It permeates every part of every day. It's not something you do in your free time,'' said Walter Meyer, a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch and president of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association.
As of December 2002, the most recent statistics available, there were 13 Wisconsin inmates who had some discomfort with their birth gender; eight of them had been diagnosed with gender identity disorder, said Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Clausius. Department policy is to treat them in accordance with their external genitalia.
Wisconsin inmates are not allowed to have gender reassignment surgery, even if they pay for it themselves, Clausius said. The surgery can cost from $10,000 to $20,000.
As of September 2004, two Wisconsin inmates besides Konitzer were receiving hormone therapy, Clausius said. The treatments, which can cost from $675 to $1,600 per year, cause men to grow breasts, develop more feminine features, and have less facial and chest hair. The hormones also prevent erections and render people sterile.
No states provide sex change surgery to inmates, and the federal prison system doesn't either, according to Alex Lee, director of the TGI Justice Project, which aims to defend the rights of transgender prisoners.
``This is something that many other states know is coming. A lot of people are going to be very interested in the outcome of this case,'' Lee said of Konitzer's suit.
The department's policy on hormone therapy has changed between 1994, when Konitzer entered the system, and today.
Under the old policy, inmates who had been receiving hormone treatments for a year on the outside were allowed to continue them while in prison. People diagnosed with gender identity disorder after their incarceration were not allowed to start the therapy while in custody.
A new policy, adopted after a committee of physicians, attorneys and prison officials studied the issue in 2002, allows inmates to start new hormone therapy in some cases.
Always good to see our taxpayer dollars put to good use!
Why is this happening?
I'm sure there are a few other inmates who would be happy to make a woman out of him.
More of this madness. What is the purpose of giving him ANY sex change therapy since apparently he's going to be in prison for the rest of his life, God wiling. Next he'll want conjugal visits.
Why is the state paying for sex-change therapy in the first place? Citizens of Wisconsin, time to take action.
>>>Konitzer, who has gender identity disorder....<<<
Now there's an understatement of biblical proportions!!
Hey, maybe I can get the state of Wisconsin to pay for my dental work....? Or do I have to commit a crime first...?
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Provide a machete and (s)he'll get his/her wish in five seconds.
You figured it out!!!
123 years and a "gender identity disorder"? Just shoot him and save some damned tax dollars.
FMCDH(BITS)
I was just thinking, I'm amazed one of the inmates hasn't already done the surgery on him. You beat me to it.
Shoot 'em all and let God sort it out.
Unbelievable. My home state is as nuts as my current one.
Worse, "I don't think you can pass your psychiatry boards without acknowledging this as a real disease."
It's now not possible to become a psychiatrist without being politically correct?!!
I guess it would be a real bad thing if this person serving 123 years on our dime got depressed, mutilated himself, and/or committed suicide.
Just kill him.
I hear Lorenna Bobbitt is currently unemployed...
"...maybe I can get the state of Wisconsin to pay for my dental work..."
Actually, down here, people supposedly do this. After their first felony, or misdemeanor or two (or ten), a misdemeanor arrest and 180 in County doesn't really screw up their lives like it does some of us who have something to lose, and who wouldn't thrive in jail like a rat in garbage. So when these people get a toothache, they knock over a Stop & Rob or do a DUI and get caught.
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