Judge orders prison bureau to get sex-change operation for transgender inmate



An Illinois judge set a new legal precedent this week when she ordered the Federal Bureau of Prisons to secure a sex-change operation for a transgender prisoner.

Judge Nancy Rosenstengel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois on Monday ruled that the BOP must find a qualified surgeon to perform vaginoplasty on inmate Cristina Nichole Iglesias, a gender dysphoric male who identifies as female.

Iglesias, who is serving a 20-year sentence for making a weapons of mass destruction threat against the British government, has been fighting in court for several years for the right to have a sex-change operation.

“I am hopeful that I will finally get the care I need to live my life fully as the woman I am,” Iglesias said in a statement. “BOP has denied me gender-affirming surgery for years — and keeps raising new excuses and putting new obstacles in my way. I am grateful that the court recognized the urgency of my case and ordered BOP to act.”

In December, the court instructed BOP's Transgender Executive Council to provide a recommendation on the surgery. The council missed the court's deadline, and only made a recommendation that Iglesias go forward with the sex-change surgery after including several conditions, including good behavior.

During that time and until now, Iglesias has not received the surgery.

Rosenstengel said BOP was playing a game of "whack-a-mole" with the prisoner, improperly delaying the surgery. She ordered the bureau "to show cause why it should not be held in contempt" for violating the courts previous orders.

The ACLU of Illinois hailed Rosenstengel's ruling as a major victory for transgender rights and for more than 1,200 transgender prisoners in federal custody.

“For years, Cristina has fought to receive the healthcare the Constitution requires. The court’s order makes clear that she needs gender-affirming surgery now and that BOP cannot justify its failure to provide this medically necessary care,” said attorney Joshua Blecher-Cohen. “We hope this landmark decision will help secure long overdue healthcare for Cristina—and for the many other transgender people in federal custody who have been denied gender-affirming care.”

Iglesias has been in federal custody for 28 years and currently resides in a BOP halfway-house in Florida. Iglesias' attorneys say BOP has been aware that he identifies as a woman he arrived in federal custody in 1994.

"Since then, she has been denied basic medical care to treat her gender dysphoria and was housed in men’s facilities for over two decades, where she experienced severe physical and sexual violence," the ACLU said. "In May 2021, this lawsuit resulted in Ms. Iglesias being one of the few transgender people ever moved to a federal prison that aligns with her gender. Ms. Iglesias has been seeking gender-affirming surgery since at least January 2016."

Iglesias will be the first federal prisoner to receive a sex-change operation while in custody, opening the door for others to follow.

Biological male inmate housed at all-women's facility may become first to undergo sex-change surgery in prison



A biological male inmate currently being held inside an all-women's prison in North Texas may soon become the first person in the U.S. to undergo a sex-change operation behind bars.

What are the details?

Cristina Nichole Iglesias, 47 — who is set to finish out a 20-year prison term in December 2022 for threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction against the U.K. government — claims to suffer from "severe" gender dysphoria, a condition in which people feel as though their biological sex does not match their gender identity.

After lodging repeated complaints for years of sexual abuse from fellow prisoners on account of transgender identity, Iglesias was eventually awarded transfer to an all-women's facility in Texas in May 2021. But the change of scenery allegedly hasn't been enough to alleviate the stress of the condition.

Now, with Iglesias' release quickly approaching, the inmate is demanding that the federal prison system approve a sex-change operation, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Iglesias first launched the petition to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to approve the surgery in 2016, but it was unsuccessful. However, late last month, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Illinois Nancy J. Rosenstengel ordered bureau officials to re-evaluate the matter before Jan. 24 and strongly urged them to schedule the surgery.

In her order, Rosenstengel, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote, "Iglesias suffers daily and is at risk of self-mutilation and suicide" and is “running out of time.”

She added, “There is an inadequate remedy at law, as money will not make Iglesias whole" and argued that without surgery, Iglesias is "at risk for suicide" and "will continue to deteriorate" psychologically.

The Sun-Times noted that in legal complaints, Iglesias described male genitals as a “malignant tumor” that needed to be removed.

What else?

In a statement issued last week, Iglesias said, “I am very excited that the court has intervened on my behalf; without that happening, I would continue to fall through the cracks and BOP would ignore my need for gender-affirming surgery, which I’ve been fighting to get for decades. I am happy to have had the chance to tell my story and am hopeful that other transgender people will benefit from my case.”

Iglesias is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois in the legal battle.

"Cristina has fought for years to get the treatment the Constitution requires," said John Knight, Iglesias' attorney and representative of the ACLU of Illinois, in a statement. "The Court's order removes the unnecessary hurdles and delays BOP has repeatedly constructed to prevent her from getting the care that she urgently needs."

Knight added, “We hope that the order directing BOP to move forward will result in medically necessary and long overdue healthcare for Cristina — and, in time, for the many other transgender people in BOP’s custody who have also been denied surgery and other much-needed gender-affirming care,”

The ACLU estimates that roughly 1,200 transgender prisoners are currently in federal custody, none of whom have been approved for a sex-change operation. Iglesias has received hormone therapy treatments since 2015 after being granted approval by the prison bureau.