Judge orders prison to allow gender surgery for transgender inmate who killed baby stepdaughter

A judge has made a decision about a transgender prisoner named Autumn Cordellionè, who strangled her 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2011. She is serving a 55-year sentence for reckless homicide.

Autumn, who used to go by the name Jonathan C. Richardson, has been in prison for years and is now asking for gender reassignment surgery.

She says that the surgery is a medical necessity because she suffers from gender dysphoria, a condition where a person feels a strong mismatch between their gender identity and the sxx they were assigned at birth.

In 2020, Autumn was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and has since been receiving hormone treatments, including female hormones and testosterone blockers.

These treatments help her feel more like herself, but she believes the only way to fully treat her condition is through surgery, specifically procedures called orchiectomy (removal of the testicles) and vaginoplasty (creation of female genitalia). Autumn also gets female clothing, makeup, and other items in prison to help with her gender identity.

She took the prison to court because she argued that denying her this surgery is harmful to her health and violates her rights under the U.S. Constitution, which protects people from “cruel and unusual punishment.” The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) supported her in the lawsuit, arguing that it is wrong to deny her medical care just because she is transgender.

The judge agreed with Autumn and the ACLU, stating that denying the surgery would be unconstitutional. The court said that the Indiana Department of Corrections must now do everything necessary to make sure Autumn gets the surgery. This decision is significant because Indiana has a law that prevents prisons from using taxpayer money for gender reassignment surgeries. The ACLU argued that this law goes against the Constitution, and the judge agreed.

The ruling also mentions that Autumn has struggled with her identity for a long time. She says she has felt like a woman since she was six years old. In prison, she has a history of self-harm, even trying to castrate herself, which shows the seriousness of her condition.

Not everyone agrees with the judge’s decision. Indiana’s Attorney General, Todd Rokita, is against the idea of taxpayers paying for this surgery. He says that the people of Indiana, often called Hoosiers, don’t want their money going towards this. He also mentioned that his office might appeal the judge’s decision.

In a separate case, Autumn sued the prison’s chaplain because he wouldn’t let her wear a hijab (a headscarf worn by some Muslim women) outside of her bed area. Autumn identifies as a Muslim woman and argued that this restriction was unfair.

The ACLU has celebrated the judge’s decision, saying that it is a big win for transgender prisoners. They believe that denying medical care to transgender people in prison is not only harmful but also illegal.