“The greatest loss is the dying I do inside a little bit every day,”
Robert Kosilek was convicted in the killing of his wife, spent time in jail, then legally changed his name to Michelle. He is now demanding a sex change and mourns his own internal death he experiences every day he remains a man. Some argue that gender identity disorder is a serious illness that can lead to severe anxiety, depression, suicide attempts and self-castration and position it as a condition that is a “medical necessity†and denying it would violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Courts in several other states have ordered prison systems to allow such inmates to receive psychotherapy and, in some cases, hormone shots. But no inmate in the country has succeeded in getting a court to order a sex-change operation. By the way, he and other advocates expects the tax payers to pay for it.
I wouldn’t have a problem paying for intense psychiatric therapy, but for a sex change, you’ve gotta be kidding me. The thing that really sticks out for me in this story is the profound self pity this guy has for himself and the irony of fate of Mr Kosilek living as a metaphor for his crime.
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I’m sure that he has issues, one of them is probably being bored with prison sex. Sex change + transfer to women’s prison = no more rapes in the shower.
I’d agree with you, that he need’s intense therapy, and probably medication. This case highlights a growing beef I’ve got with the corrections industry: Prison does little, if any, correction. Most often, it does more damage and leaves ex-cons in a worse position than when they went into the system, leading to increased chance of offense and recidivism.
Comment by St. Jimbob of the Apokalypse — September 1, 2006 @ 8:32 AM
In Ontario a year or so ago, the provincial government actually made taxpayers fund sex-changes. This was shortly after *eye-care* was REMOVED from the list of tax-funded medical expenses… THE GALL!! There was enough public outrage about the stupidity of the Ontario government, that they retracted a couple of days later on the sex-changes.
DUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHH.
Comment by Mike A. — September 1, 2006 @ 11:24 PM