Penis Cut Off After Sex Change Refused

Being born a man but knowing you are a woman is hard for anyone, but imagine if you had to live your life in the wrong body in a prison where nobody really cares — the only thing that matters is that you’ve committed a crime and you’re paying the price.

Virginian inmate, Ophelia De’lonta, has suffered the consequences of judicial system indifference. Born a man but knowing she is a woman, De’lonta recently tried to take matters into her own hands. She was denied gender reassignment surgery (GRS) so she attempted self-castration.

Being sentenced to 70 years for robbery, drugs and weapons charges isn’t something to take lightly. But you might also say the same thing about De’lonta’s gender identity disorder. If the ruling on her case asking for GRS isn’t in her favour (odds are she will lose), then she will try self-surgery yet again, even though it could be fatal.

“At the end I would have peace,” said De’lonta.

Some may view it as suicide, but for her, it’s essential that what’s on the outside matches what’s on the inside. It’s a fight she hasn’t given up since she won a case in 2004 for female hormones to be provided to her, which have led to breast development.

De’lonta’s case, if she’s victorious, could set a precedent for other inmates over the court’s refusal to grant gender reassignment surgery. Inmates in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Colorado, California and Idaho have also sued – unsuccessfully – to have the surgery performed in prison.

Since it’s a safe surgery (done outside of jail) that prison doctors could perform, it isn’t fair to let inmates suffer. Even though they have to live out their lives in prison for committing crimes, denying them the ability to live as their true gender is just as criminal.

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