Court rules that state must provide gender reassignment surgery for inmate
Published at | Updated at
BOISE — The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of a prisoner seeking gender reassignment surgery.
Adree Edmo will become the first transgender inmate in the country to receive the surgery through a court order, according to Boise Public Radio.
RELATED | Judge orders state to give inmate gender reassignment surgery
The panel of judges agreed with Federal District Judge B. Lynn Winmill’s ruling in Edmo’s favor last December, writing that his findings were “logical and well-supported” and that “responsible prison officials were deliberately indifferent to Edmo’s gender dysphoria, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”
Idaho appealed the ruling earlier this year, with Gov. Brad Little issuing a statement.
“The hardworking taxpayers of Idaho should not be forced to pay for a prisoner’s gender reassignment surgery when individual insurance plans won’t cover it,” Little said. “We cannot divert critical public dollars away from our focus on keeping the public safe and rehabilitating offenders.”
Edmo, who has been living as a woman for several years, was convicted of sexually abusing a child under 16 in Bannock County. Edmo has been housed in the men’s prison since 2012 and is due to finish her sentence in 2021.