Attorney General Russell Coleman (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)
FRANKFORT — Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman says Kentucky correctional officials are not required to provide gender-affirming surgery to transgender inmates when medical professionals deem it medically necessary.
The legal opinion issued Thursday by the Republican responds to a request made earlier this month by the Kentucky Department of Corrections Commissioner Cookie Crews asking for legal clarity on what the department is required to provide and fund.
Crews’ request followed strong criticism from Republican state lawmakers over policies adopted by memo by the department in past years providing a process for transgender inmates to request gender-affirming care such as hormonal treatment and surgical procedures. Crews previously told lawmakers the department had not conducted surgeries for inmates.
Coleman in his opinion said the federal 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases in four states including Kentucky, and the state have not weighed in on the issue. He wrote that other federal appeals courts have differed on whether a state is required to provide surgical procedures for treatment of gender dysphoria.
But he predicted that the 6th Circuit, if it were to hear the issue, would likely align with a federal court decision in 2019 that found a Texas law banning gender reassignment surgery for people in prison did not violate the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment protects against cruel and unusual punishments.
“For most Kentuckians, the answer to the Department’s question is self-evident. Common sense dictates that it is not ‘cruel and unusual’ for the Department to decline to spend taxpayer dollars on such controversial medical procedures,” the introduction of the opinion reads.
A spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the opinion.
Advocates for transgender inmates have said the denial of gender-affirming surgery for inmates experiencing gender dysphoria does amount to cruel and unusual punishment, arguing the costs of providing such care are lower than the consequences of denying it.
This story may be updated.