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California pays for inmate's gender reassignment surgery
ReutersJanuary 6, 2017
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A transgender California prison inmate who was born male but identifies as female underwent gender-reassignment surgery paid for by the state this week in what is believed to be the first such case in the United States, her attorneys said Friday.
The state had promised to refer inmate Shiloh Quine, then 56, to a surgeon and pay for the procedure as part of a 2015 settlement making the state the first in the United States to offer inmates a regular path to such treatment.
Quine, who is serving a term of life without the possibility of parole after convictions in 1981 for murder, kidnapping and robbery, had the surgery on Thursday, said Jill Marcellus, a spokeswoman for the Transgender Law Center, which negotiated the settlement.
Under its terms, the state agreed to allow inmates who are transgender or have gender dysphoria access to clothing, toiletries and other items consistent with their gender identities. For those like Shiloh whose doctors agree that surgery is medically appropriate, the state will pay for the procedure. The cost was not specified.
Transgender Law Center Executive Director Kris Hayashi said that by providing Quine's surgery, the state was setting an example that would help others obtain needed care.
"For too long, institutions have ignored doctors and casually dismissed medically necessary and life-saving care for transgender people just because of who we are – with devastating consequences for our community," said Hayashi.
Under guidelines adopted in 2015 after the state's settlement with Quine, prisoners seeking to change their biological sex would need to be evaluated by medical and mental health professionals, and present their cases to a six-member committee of doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists.
Committee members would vote on whether the surgery was warranted, and a committee chair who is a medical administrator in the prison system would hold a tie-breaking vote.
They would also have to live for a year in their preferred gender roles and undergo hormone therapy.
Quine will be transferred to a women's prison after she is released from the hospital, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation....
The daughter of Quine's victim said she objects to inmates getting taxpayer-funded surgery that is not readily available to non-criminals, regardless of the cost.
"My dad begged for his life," said Farida Baig, who tried unsuccessfully to block Quine's surgery through the courts. "It just made me dizzy and sick. I'm helping pay for his surgery; I live in California. It's kind of like a slap in the face."
Quine and an accomplice kidnapped and fatally shot 33-year-old Shahid Ali Baig, a father of three, in downtown Los Angeles in February 1980, stealing $80 and his car during a drug- and alcohol-fueled rampage
California was legally required to pay for the operation, corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said. "The Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution requires that prisons provide inmates with medically necessary treatment for medical and mental health conditions, including inmates diagnosed with gender dysphoria," Thornton said in a written statement.
Corrections officials fought for years to avoid paying for sex-reassignment surgeries. In one high-profile case, the state paroled Michelle-Lael Norsworthy in 2015, just one day before a federal appeals court was to hear her request for state-funded surgery.
Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal court-appointed official who controls California's prison medical care, said the cost of sex-reassignment surgeries could approach $100,000, including procedures and medications before and after the operation. The Transgender Law Center said that figure is exaggerated.
A portion of the state's expense will generally be reimbursed by the federal government, sometimes up to 95 percent, Hayhoe said.
Since the state approved its policy, officials have received 64 other inmate requests for sex-reassignment surgeries, and four have been approved.
Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which supports crime victims, said there are not enough operations to make a big dent in the corrections budget, though he does not think the state should fund them.
