(Headline USA) California has spent $4 million of taxpayer money on “gender-affirming” enhancements for convicts in the state’s prison system, including four on death row, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
At least 157 inmates have received taxpayer-funded sex-change treatments, including vaginoplasties, breast enhancements, laser hair removal and facial feminization. The state has spent $2.5 million on these procedures alone since 2017, documents show.
Thirty-five male prisoners have undergone taxpayer-funded vaginoplasties; 11 male prisoners have received breast implants; and two male inmates have received facial feminization surgeries. Sixty-nine male inmates have gotten laser hair removal, and 40 female prisoners have had double mastectomies.
California’s corrections department also admitted it does not place any limits on the kinds of prisoners who can request “gender-affirming” enhancements. As of early this summer, the department had received nearly 1,000 petitions for “gender-affirming” surgeries, agency records show.
Agency officials reportedly requested nearly $2.2 million in new funds just for transgender care, according to budget documents. Part of those funds would go toward the hiring of a part-time surgeon.
The California policy is due in part to a 2015 court decision ordering the state to provide transgender inmate Jeffrey Bryan Norsworthy, a biological male, with sex reassignment surgery.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco ruled that denying the procedure to Norsworthy, who was convicted of murder, violated the prisoner’s rights.
“The weight of the evidence demonstrates that for Norsworthy, the only adequate medical treatment for her [sic] gender dysphoria is [sex-reassignment surgery],” Tigar wrote at the time.
In 2014, 131 California inmates identified as transgender. Now, at least 1,847 inmates identify as transgender.
Hundreds of these inmates, almost all biological men, have also requested to be transferred to facilities that align with their new gender identity.
At least four inmates have been transferred to women’s facilities since 2021, thanks to a law signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom that requires transgender inmates to be housed in their chosen facility.
