Challenges to inmates' gender cases costly to Bay State
Legal bills could total $2 million
By Milton J. Valencia
| Globe Staff
December 31, 2012
http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/12/31/state-doc-could-pay-millions-legal-fees-for-gender-identity-disorder-treatment/mE0O6TVIzESb57wXQkfUUI/story.htmlThe state Department of Correction may face legal bills of roughly $2 million for unsuccessfully challenging what three prisoners say is their right to treatment for gender disorders.
The most high-profile of the cases is that of Michelle Kosilek, the convicted murderer who successfully sued for a sex change operation after doctors found it was the only appropriate treatment for a severe case of gender identity disorder. A judge earlier this month said he will order the state to pay $700,000 in legal fees to the inmate's legal team.
But the state also raised challenges in at least two other similar cases — that of inmates Sandy Battista and Ketheena Soneeya — losing both. If the inmates' lawyers win the legal fees they are seeking, it could cost taxpayers an additional $1 million or more.
