Indiana Judge Rules Prison Must Provide Transgender Surgery For Man Who Killed Baby

A federal judge has ruled an Indiana prison must provide a man who killed a baby in 2001 with sex reassignment surgery.

The ACLU sued the Indiana Department of Corrections on behalf of Jonathan C. Richardson, who was convicted of killing his 11-month-old stepdaughter.

In the lawsuit, the ACLU argued Indiana’s law that prohibits state prisons from using taxpayer dollars to fund sex reassignment surgeries was unconstitutional.

The ACLU argued Indiana’s law violated the Eighth Amendment’s “cruel and unusual punishment” clause.

Judge Richard Young, who was overseeing the case sided with the ACLU’s claims.

I’m hopeful that the Republican state AG, will follow through and appeal this outrageous decision.

Indiana judge rules prison must provide transgender surgery for inmate who killed baby https://t.co/nG81t354EJ

— Michael Michelin (@MAMichelin59) September 23, 2024

Leftism at work—Indiana judge rules prison must provide transgender surgery for inmate who killed baby. https://t.co/fBA6cDJqMk

— Rawkus Americuss (@WiseMuppet) September 23, 2024

Per Fox News:

A federal judge has ruled that it would be unconstitutional for an Indiana prison to deny a transgender inmate sex reassignment surgery following the inmate’s lawsuit against the facility.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the Indiana Department of Corrections last year on behalf of a transgender inmate, Jonathan C. Richardson, also known as Autumn Cordellionè, who was convicted of strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2001.

Indiana law, however, prohibits the Department of Corrections from using taxpayer dollars to fund sex reassignment surgeries for inmates. However, the ACLU argues in the lawsuit, filed on Aug. 28, 2023, that the law is a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.”

The surgery for Richardson, who is serving out a 55-year prison sentence for reckless homicide, “is a medical necessity,” according to the ACLU lawsuit.

Judge Richard Young agreed with the ACLU’s claims and ruled in favor of Cordellioné last week.

Opinion | Indiana judge rules prison must provide transgender surgery for inmate who killed baby https://t.co/dYyHBGvSao

— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 23, 2024

Per The Washington Strand:

A federal judge ruled that the Indiana Department of Corrections must pay for an incarcerated baby murderer to turn his penis into an imitation-vagina, on the pretext that the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the one prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment, requires it.

In 2001, 19-year-old Jonathan C. Richardson strangled his 11-month-old stepdaughter while her mother, Linda Thomas, was at work. He showed no remorse for the crime, later telling a prison official, “I killed the little [expletive, expletive].” He was convicted and sentenced to 55 years in prison. “On the day he murdered my child, I personally observed Plaintiff with a fresh bleeding tattoo of my child’s name on his arm,” Thomas recalled, who obtained a divorce soon afterward.

For nearly two decades, Richardson was housed as a male in a male prison without raising a fuss. Meanwhile, the culture outside was changing rapidly. In 2018, Richardson heard about “gender identity” from another male inmate, who went by the name of “Pearl” and showed him pamphlets from California state prisons. California has housed dozens of trans-identifying males in female prisons; not surprisingly, California’s prison pregnancy rate has skyrocketed.

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Richardson began to self-identify as transgender in 2020 and obtained cross-sex hormones. He uses the name “Autumn Cordellioné,” and that false name appears in the lawsuit filed by the ACLU against the Indiana Department of Corrections. Richardson testified that he chose the name “Autumn” after his ex-girlfriend from high school. Presumably, she would find his appropriation of her name offensive.