A sex offender in Idaho was sentenced to ten years in prison after he sexually abused a 15-year-old boy. Now he is demanding a sex change and sued the state, claiming their refusal to pay for the surgery is “cruel and unusual punishment.”
What!? Cruel and unusual punishment because our tax dollars won't pay for that scumbag's cosmetic surgery?? He already got off on a light sentence. Now he wants privileges? He's out of his mind!
To make matters worse, a panel of three 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges ruled in favor of the inmate and ordered the state to pay! However, Idaho Governor Brad Little says not a chance!
The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution states that “[e]xcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” on criminals. That amendment, a three-judge panel ruled Friday, requires the State of Idaho to pay for the $20,000 to $30,0000 sex reassignment surgery for Adree Edmo, a biological male convicted of sexually abusing a 15-year-old at the age of 22 and who claims to identify as a female.
Little vowed that he will do everything he can to ensure that taxpayer money is not used for the sex offender's surgery. He also stated several mental health professionals, as well as the treating physician, confirmed that the surgery is not medically necessary. (Well DUH!)
Edmo began serving time in a male prison in 2012. In 2017, Edmo sued the state, claiming the state’s refusal to pay for the controversial and costly surgery was “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Last December, Federal District Judge B. Lynn Winmill sided with Edmo, ruling that the state should fund the surgery, a ruling the state appealed. On Friday, the panel agreed with Winmill, concluding that prison officials were “deliberately indifferent to Edmo’s gender dysphoria, in violation of the Eighth Amendment,” as reported by Boise State Public Radio. Prison officials, the panel wrote, have not provided for what the judges say are Edmo’s “medical needs” due to the “extreme suffering” caused by gender dysphoria.