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| Lawmakers discuss blocking gender treatments in prison |
| By Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |
| Published: 04/11/2005 |
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Legislators were sympathetic last Monday to a bill that would deny hormone treatments and sex-change surgeries to prison inmates, although a state Senate committee did not vote on it. Wisconsin taxpayers have never paid for an inmate's sex-change surgery, but a lawsuit is pending over that issue, and taxpayers are paying about $2,300 a year to provide special hormone treatments to two male inmates who have been diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder, officials told the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy. David Burnett, the physician who is medical director for the state Department of Corrections, said officials adopted a policy of paying for hormone treatments, but only for those taking the hormones when they entered the prison system, based on legal rulings and medical findings that the disorder is a "serious medical illness." The federal bureau of prisons has the same rule, he added. A legislative researcher said the hormones offer a psychological stability to those with the disorder and added, "discontinuation of hormone treatment may result in disruptive behavior by inmates" who suffer from it. But Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) said he found the use of tax funds to provide the hormones "rather goofy." And a skeptical Sen. Dave Zien (R-Eau Claire) asked if other states pay for hormones for prison inmates who want a sex change. Burnett said some states do, and others do not. Republican Reps. Mark Gundrum of New Berlin and Scott Suder of Abbotsford said the Legislature should act to make sure state law prohibits hormone treatments and sex-change surgeries with tax funds. "It just doesn't make a lot of sense," Gundrum said. Legislators also asked if some private health care plans cover hormones and sex-change surgeries. Many of those private plans do not cover those treatments, Burnett said. |
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