Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita condemned a federal verdict last week that upheld a prisoner’s right to transgender treatment while detained.
The verdict by federal Judge Richard Young agreed with convict Autumn Cordellionè, who sued in 2023 to overturn a state rule that denied transgender persons certain medical services while jailed. At the time, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana issued a press release claiming that taxpayer-funded medical care were “necessary and even lifesaving.”
Judge Young ruled that Cordellionè “requires gender-affirming surgery to prevent a risk of serious bodily and psychological harm.” Rokita told X he planned to appeal the verdict as soon as possible.
“Of course, I disagree,” Rokita wrote. “How could you not?? An Indiana inmate convicted of murder wants our taxpayers to fund their gender-altering surgery! Hoosiers do NOT want this.”
“We’re still reviewing the court’s opinion, but you can undoubtedly expect our office to appeal this decision,” he added.
However, the local ACLU celebrated the verdict as a triumph for the LGBT community.
“Today is a significant victory for transgender people in Indiana’s prisons,” Legal Director Ken Falk stated. “Denying jailed people evidence-based medical care only because they are transgender is unconstitutional. We are glad the Court concurred.”
Cordellionè is currently serving a 55-year sentence at Branchville Correctional Facility, a male-only state prison, for strangling an 11-month-old. In February, the woman filed a separate claim after a prison chaplain reportedly banned her from wearing a hijab outside her cell.
Cordellionè allegedly told the chaplain, “I am an eclectic practitioner who is a member of the Theosophical Society of America.” She went on to say, “I practice a diversity of faiths in order to custom tailor my spiritual beliefs to my spiritual needs,” according to the complaint.
A newly leaked memo from Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign reveals that she previously supported taxpayer-funded transgender procedures for transgender inmates. In a questionnaire for the ACLU, Harris stated that she would support “executive authority to ensure that transgender and nonbinary people who rely on the state for medical care—iincluding those in prison and immigration detention—wwill have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care.”
“I support policies ensuring that federal prisoners and detainees are able to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while incarcerated or detained,” Harris wrote. “Transition treatment is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for providing essential medical care to deliver transition treatment.”
