Wisconsin Ordered to Provide Surgery for Trans Prisoner

A federal judge has ordered the state of Wisconsin to provide a transgender inmate with gender-affirming surgery in order to treat her gender dysphoria. Nicole Campbell, who is currently 13 years into a 34-year sentence at Racine Correctional Institute, a men’s prison, was diagnosed with gender dysphoria prior to being incarcerated.

She was permitted to receive hormone replacement therapy, counseling, and even allowed to wear women’s clothing as part of her treatment while in prison. However, Campbell was denied gender-affirming surgery when she applied for it in 2013. She promptly appealed the decision, suing the state after their overt denial of surgery.

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections argued that Campbell met all criteria for surgery except living as a woman in “real life,” which the department said was impossible since Campbell had been incarcerated in a men’s prison.

A federal judge initially agreed that Campbell could sue prison officials for damages related to the denial of surgery. But, in August of 2019, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, ruling that prison officials could not have known that denying Campbell access to surgery, while continuing to provide other gender-affirming care, would be considered a violation of her rights.

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Despite the 7th Circuits ruling, U.S. District Judge James Paterson of the Western District of Wisconsin found that the Department of Corrections’ decision to prohibit Campbell from receiving surgery was unconstitutional. Paterson noted in the ruling that Campbell’s dysphoria is so severe that parts of her own body cause her significant anguish.

As a result, denying the surgery amounted to deliberate indifference of Campbell’s medical needs, therefore violating her Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. But Peterson denied Campbell’s additional requests for breast augmentation, voice therapy, and electrolysis, finding that her lawyers failed to provide evidence or witness testimony during the trial.

“The rights of transgender persons and sex-reassignment surgery remain politically controversial, even outside the prison context. And some members of the public are outraged at any effort to improve the health and wellbeing of inmates,” Paterson said in a statement. “But, the true public interests lies in alleviating needless suffering who are dependent on the government for their care.”