Inmate Fights for Sex-Change Operation
A transsexual man sentenced to life in prison without parole for strangling his wife is trying to force the state to pay for a sex change operation and hormone therapy to allow him to live as a woman.
Robert Kosilek, 52, who uses the name Michelle, claims in a lawsuit that the state Department of Corrections is violating his civil rights by refusing to provide treatment for his gender identity disorder.
Advocates say there have been several cases across the country of transgender inmates successfully suing to get treatment, but none have succeeded in getting surgery.
Kosilek says he began asking the state for treatment in 1990, after he was arrested in the killing of his 36-year-old wife, Cheryl.
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