Oregon inmate loses sex-change lawsuit

A transgendered prisoner, who is anatomically male but identifies as a woman, lost his suit seeking to have Oregon pay for sex-change surgery and transfer her to a women's prison. Oregon inmate loses sex-change lawsuit, Seattle Times, Feb. 19, 2008.

I found the following in a blog opposing mandatory minimum sentencing laws, Oregonians Against Measure 11:

A lawsuit by an Oregon inmate demanding a sex-change operation spotlights the increasing complexity and cost of providing health services to the state’s 13,500 prisoners.

Anny May Stevens, a Portland man serving an 18-year sentence for manslaughter, contends in court papers that prison officials denied him medical treatment for transsexualism.

“I didn’t ask to be born this way,” Stevens, 45, said in an interview from Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario. “But I sure don’t want to die this way.”

Prison officials don’t dispute Stevens’ diagnosis, but they rejected his request, arguing in court papers that neither hormone treatment nor surgery is medically necessary.

Though transsexual inmates are rare, prison officials report a surging demand from inmates for a wide array of conditions, diseases and mental illnesses.

Care needs of prisoners put Oregon in a bind, Oregonians Against Measure 11, Nov. 12, 2007.