(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A federal judge has ordered the Indiana Department of Correction to provide “gender‐affirming surgery” to transgender inmate Jonathan C. Richardson, who now goes by the name “Autumn Cordellionè” and is serving a 55-year sentence for killing Richardson’s infant stepdaughter.
“Ms. Cordellioné has shown that her gender dysphoria is a serious medical need, and that, despite other treatments Defendant has provided her to treat her gender dysphoria, she requires gender-affirming surgery to prevent a risk of serious bodily and psychological harm,” Clinton-appointed judge Richard L. Young ruled on Tuesday.
“Thus, she has demonstrated a reasonable likelihood of success in demonstrating that denying her gender‐affirming surgery violates the Eighth Amendment as it denies her necessary medical care to address a serious medical need.”
Richardson, who identifies as an “Islamic-practicing transwoman,” first sued the Indiana Department of Correction in August 2023 after the state passed a law banning prisoners from receiving sexual reassignment surgery. The baby-killer’s lawsuit was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Richardson, who was convicted of strangling an 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2001, recently filed a sworn declaration in support of the lawsuit. The declaration recounts Richardson’s history.
According to the declaration, Richardson only discovered what gender dysphoria is once the baby-killer was incarcerated. Richardson was diagnosed as having gender dysphoria in 2020, and was provided hormone blockers.
But despite receiving medical treatment, Richardson claims to still suffer negative, and at times debilitating, symptoms of gender dysphoria.
“My genitals are an enormous source of anxiety and distress. Not only can I not stand touching them, but I also cannot stand seeing them. I will wear panties in the shower so I do not have to see my genitals and when I wear clothes I attempt to ‘tuck’ my genitals so it does not appear that I have a penis or testicles,” Richardson said.
“At times, I have soiled myself rather than go to the bathroom, as I just do not want to see or deal with my genitals.”
In February, the Justice Department also filed a brief in support of Richardson’s lawsuit.
The DOJ’s support of Richardson followed a similar move in Georgia, where DOJ prosecutors filed a brief in support of a transgender inmate who—ironically—allegedly tried bombing the DOJ.
Additionally, the DOJ settled a lawsuit last June from a federal inmate—former Neo-Nazi bank robber Pete/Donna Langan—who sued the Bureau of Prisons in late 2021 to obtain a sex change. Langan became the first federal inmate in history to receive a sex change in January 2023, but continued to sue the BOP to also cover facial hair removal surgery.
The details of Langan’s settlement have not been made public.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
