The far-left ACLU is suing a convicted, decrepit child killer, hoping to force Indiana to use taxpayers’ money for the inmate’s gender-affirming surgery.
The transgender inmate, Jonathan C. Richardson, aka Autumn Cordellione, was convicted of the fatal strangulation of his 11-month-old stepdaughter in 2001 and is serving a 55-year sentence.
The move comes on the heels of a new law passed this summer during the 2023 legislature that bans the Indiana Department of Corrections from providing gender-affirming medical care to incarcerated transgender people.
But the ACLU claims the new law violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Fox news reported.
On August 28, the organization submitted the application court case claiming that Richardson’s reassignment surgery is “a medical necessity.”
Richardson’s case is not the first sex reassignment surgery for an inmate. In Minnesota, a transgender inmate won her case against the DOC and received $495,000 for the gender reassignment surgery, after which she was transferred to a women’s facility.
Transgender inmate, Jonathan C. Richardson, also known as Autumn Cordellione, was convicted in 2001 of the fatal strangulation of his 11-month-old stepdaughter
The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the state of Indiana for refusing to spend taxpayer money on a transgender prisoner’s gender reassignment
A protester holds up the ACLU “Trans People Belong” poster
The bill was passed by Indiana this summer, and supporters argued it would save the state money. Senator Stacey Donato (R-Logansport) sponsored the plan, describing the treatment as “unproven, irreversible and life-changing,” according to The Times of Northwest Indiana.
The ACLU stated that medical care related to transgender patients is considered necessary and even life-saving by every reputable medical organization.
The organization further explained that the courts have consistently determined that people experiencing gender dysphoria cannot simply be denied care.
The IDOC was also cited in the lawsuit for violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“The DOC cannot deny detained people necessary treatment simply on the grounds that they are transgender. To do this is a form of discrimination,” said Ken Falk, legal director of the Indiana ACLU.
‘Gender-affirming care is life-saving care. If the legislature can arbitrarily deny one form of health care, it might as well deny other life-saving treatments to people in prison.”
Richardson, who is currently being held at Branchville Correctional Facility, has been identified as female since she was six, the indictment said.
In early 2020, she was diagnosed by DOC medical professionals as suffering from gender dysphoria. As a result, she is ssuffered from depression and anxiety brought on by her gender dysphoria and by her admission that she is a woman trapped in a man’s body, the indictment alleged.
“She pleaded guilty to self-harm and attempted suicide because she could not stand the fact that her gender at birth did not match the fact that she is female and cannot tolerate her male body,” the lawsuit said.
Richardson started taking hormones to change her body and make it more feminine, even though she has been in a prison that was specifically designed for men. The lawsuit alleged that she requested gender-affirming items and obtained permission to obtain bars, panties, makeup and form-fitting clothing.
Despite hormone therapy, she continues to suffer from the severe negative symptoms of gender dysphoria. Her genitals, in particular, remain a source of extreme and constant suffering, which is getting worse and worse,” the indictment said.
‘The mere sight of her genitals gives her great fear. She soiled herself instead of going to the bathroom because of the stress of seeing her genitals.”
Ken Falk (pictured right), legal director of Indiana’s ACLU, said, “The DOC cannot deny incarcerated people necessary treatment simply because they are transgender. Doing this is a form of discrimination’
Richardson is currently being held at Branchville Correctional Facility and has been identified as female since she was six years old, the indictment said
Today’s lawsuit is the fifth lawsuit filed by the Indiana ACLU against legislation passed in the 2023 session.
The state has not yet responded to the latest lawsuit, which was filed this week.
Katie Blair, director of advocacy and public policy for Indiana’s ACLU, said “some Indiana lawmakers are introducing increasingly radical agendas, often under pressure from out-of-state misinformation and extremists.”
She added: “Not only do these legislators ignore their constituents’ values, they often ignore legal precedents and choose to pass laws that openly infringe upon the rights protected by Hoosiers.
“It is not uncommon for us to file one or two lawsuits at the end of each legislature, but the number of lawsuits we have had to file as a result of harmful legislation passed during the 2023 legislature is particularly alarming.”
Christina Lusk, 56, filed a lawsuit against the state corrections department demanding $50,000 in monetary compensation because she was assigned to the men’s prison and denied gender-affirming surgery
Earlier this year, Minnesota settled a lawsuit with a transgender inmate for nearly $500,000.
The settlement also required Christina Lusk, 56, to undergo a vaginoplasty and be sent to a women’s facility after alleging sexual and verbal abuse at a men’s prison.
Lusk, who is legally recognized as a woman, came out as transgender 14 years ago, began hormone therapy, and legally changed her name in 2018. The following year, she pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge.
The settlement also promises that Lusk – who used to go by the name Craig – will receive further gender-affirming health care and strengthen its policy to protect transgender inmates.
“This journey has brought extreme challenges, and I have endured so much. I hope no one has to go through the same circumstances. I trusted my faith and never gave up hope. I can truly say that I am a strong, proud transgender woman, and my name is Christina Lusk,” she said in a statement.
The DOC of Minnesota agreed to settle Christina Lusk’s case for $495,000 after they put her in a men’s facility where she said other inmates had verbally and sexually abused her
However, Lusk’s ex-wife ripped this move, telling DailyMail.com that the prisoner was a “swindler” and a “fat liar.”
“I think he (Lusk) does all these things to avoid being in jail all the time,” she said.
“He told his family that if he was a woman and had breasts, they should put him in a women’s prison.
“He said he’d make sure he made money off the whole ordeal. He said ‘I’m going to become a woman and complain to make sure they give me money and move me’.
“He didn’t do anything like that when we were married, and not even after we got divorced. I think he’s a big fat liar.
“I talked to his family after we got divorced, and they said getting themselves out of jail and getting some money was a big thing.
“When I saw it on the news, before they announced his name, I told my family that this is what Craig would do: try to scam people to get money.”