Nixed sex change defended: DOC boss doubts killer's need for surgery -- Inside America's Correctional Facilities

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Date Posted: 03:16:07 02/10/02 Sun
Author: MAJ
Subject: Nixed sex change defended: DOC boss doubts killer's need for surgery

by J.M. Lawrence
Thursday, February 7, 2002

The commissioner of the state's (Mass.) prison system yesterday defended the decision to deny an inmate a sex change operation and criticized the specialist who ordered surgery and makeup for the man.

"That was not a good report to base any judgement on," Department of Correction Commissioner Michael T. Maloney testified in federal court.

Maloney told the U. S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf that convicted wife-killer Robert Kosilek, who changed his name to Michelle, is one of three inmates in state prisons who believe they are women trapped in men's bodies.

But Maloney said gender identity expert Dr. Marshall Forstein's finding that Kosilek, 52, should be treated with hormones, hair removal, surgery and makeup was based only on a 75 minute visit with Kosilek.

"There was no attempt by Dr. Forstein to verify anything," Maloney told the judge, who is conducting a bench trial on Kosilek's claim that the prisons are denying him medical treatment.

The court asked Forstein to recommend treatment for Kosilek, who first filed suit in 1992. The state and Kosilek's court appointed attorneys both approved Forstein's appointment.

But other doctors under contract with the Department of Correction have recommended Kosilek receive therapy and declared a sex change "inappropriate" for the inmate who strangled his therapist wife in 1992.

Maloney yesterday said he immediately rejected Kosliek's request for a sex change under department guidelines in line with Medicaid rules against elective surgery.

"I did not discuss that specific surgery with anybody," he testified.

Kosliek , who wears his hair long and has long nails, has attempted suicide twice in prison facilities and tried to castrate himself by tying a shoelace around his genitals.

He claims the state is violating his 8th amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment by denying him treatment for his gender disorder.

Maloney siad he has never had a conversation with Kosliek and does not know if the inmate's disorder is real or a the product of a manipulative killer.

"I don't know if this is genuine," said Maloney, who refers to Kosilek as Michelle but refuses to address the inmate as a woman.

Pressed by Kosilek's attorneys to answer whether he thought sex change was ever necessary for a mentally ill person, Maloney said,"The advice I've recieved to date is in some cases, it may be."

Maloney said if the judge ordered a sex change for Kosilek, he would consult attorneys about "other avenues."

"If there were none, we would provide treatment ordered by the court," he testified.

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