The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of multiple trans-identified male inmates in Florida who allege that a new policy prohibiting “gender affirming care” amounts to a violation of their Eighth Amendment Right against cruel and unusual punishment. Among the three named in the lawsuit, one is a convicted pedophile who sexually abused two 10-year-old girls.
On September 30, 2024, the Florida Department of Corrections established Health Services Bulletin 15.05.23, entitled “Mental Health Treatment of Inmates with Gender Dysphoria.” The new policy stipulates that “state law prohibits the Department from expending any state funds to purchase cross-sex hormones for the treatment of gender dysphoria.” The Bulletin represented a deviation from previous state policy, which had allowed for both cross-sex hormones and other accommodations to be provided to trans-identified inmates.
Inmates in FDOC care were given 30 days to comply with the policy, which also included turning over any feminine undergarments they had been provided and cutting their hair.
In response to the policy change, the ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit on behalf of four trans-identified male inmates, arguing that the Bulletin violated their rights against cruel and unusual punishment.
The primary inmate named in the suit is Reiyn Keohane, a trans-identified male serving a 15-year sentence for attempting to murder his female roommate in 2013. Keohane had become enraged and stabbed the woman in the throat before fleeing the crime scene on a moped.
The victim was able to alert a neighbor for help and identify Keohane as her attacker before losing consciousness. When arrested, Keohane was found with two knives and an AR15 clip. He was ultimately sentenced to 15 years in prison and is currently incarcerated at the Wakulla Correctional Institution Annex in Crawfordville.
In 2016, Keohane sued the FDOC after he was denied cross-sex hormones. Two years later, a court ruled in his favor and ordered the FDOC to accommodate his demands for “gender affirming care” and “female grooming standards.” Keohane’s 2016 suit resulted in the FDOC instituting the policy on “gender affirming care” which has now been rescinded.
Keohane is now the main plaintiff in an ACLU-backed lawsuit tackling the FDOC’s newest policy, which prohibits the state use of funds towards “gender affirming care” for inmates. He has been joined by three other named inmates so far.
A second plaintiff that has submitted a testimony in the lawsuit is George “Sasha” Mendoza, a trans-identified male convicted of both first and second degree murder in 1985.
In his statement, Mendoza, 53, claims he had known his “gender identity” since he was 15 years old, and began transitioning while in the custody of the FDOC.
“I love wearing make-up. Even though I can only do it inside the dorm, I would look forward to being able to wear it. It makes me feel more like a woman. I feel better and don’t feel like a man,” Mendoza writes in his testimony. “Being able to receive hormone therapy and follow female clothing and grooming standards has made it possible for me to live as the woman I am and, thus, alleviated the painful distress of gender dysphoria.” Mendoza is currently incarcerated at the Dade Correctional Institution.
The third plaintiff named in the case is Matthew “Michelle” Ward, 53, a convicted child rapist serving a life sentence for the sexual abuse of two young girls.
According to a 1993 article from the Tampa Bay Times, Ward victimized two 10-year-old girls from his neighborhood after offering to babysit them. According to one of the victims who testified against Ward in court, “he brought us into the bedroom and did nasty stuff to us.” Ward was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for sexual battery.
Testimony provided by Ward to the ACLU claims that the convicted child sexual abuser has “known [his] gender identity is female” since he was a young boy.
“I am a 53 year-old transgender woman in the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections… I have known my gender identity is female since between ages 8 and 10… I tried to cut my penis off when I was 10… I began socially transitioning – wearing female-typical clothing, hairstyles, and cosmetics – at age 15.”
Ward stated that he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in May 2019 by Dr. Gascon while he was incarcerated at Dade Correctional Institution. He was then provided with a bra and “female undergarments, hair accessories, and makeup” and stopped cutting his hair.
After Dade Correctional authorities recalled the feminine underwear that had been given to male inmates who claimed to be women, Ward said he felt “naked and humiliated” without his bra. “My breasts were evaluated by medical on October 10 and I was told I did not qualify for a bra. I have a B cup.”
Ward also claims that he was ordered to have his hair cut, and that during the process he “cried the whole time.”
“The loss of my hair, along with female undergarments and makeup, has been earth-shattering for me. The thoughts about self-castration and suicidality that I experienced before treatment came flooding back like a tidal wave. I stay awake crying many nights.”
The case is proceeding through the courts, and while the ACLU has filed for an injunction to temporarily allow trans-identified males in FDOC custody to receive “gender affirming care,” the court has not yet made a decision on the request.
The ACLU has pursued multiple lawsuits in several states against the US prison authorities on behalf of men convicted of horrific crimes. As revealed by Reduxx, a 2019 ACLU lawsuit against the New Jersey Department of Corrections which required the state to allow violent male inmates to self-identify into the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women was lodged on behalf of a self-admitted diaper fetishist and convicted terrorist.
In September, the ACLU in Indiana successfully fought to have a transgender baby killer be given taxpayer-funded “gender affirming” surgeries. Yesterday, the United States District Court of Indiana ruled that Autumn Cordellioné, born Jonathan C. Richardson, had been subjected to “cruel and unusual punishment” by being denied the various plastic surgeries he had demanded.
Last year, the ACLU of Florida criticized officials for not providing “gender-affirming care” to a convicted rapist and murderer prior to his execution. Duane Owen had been handed a death sentence after brutally murdering a 38-year-old mother and a 14-year-old girl in 1984. Owen claimed that he sexually assaulted women as part of a ritual to harvest their hormones, and that he was a transsexual who carried out the sexual violence to “turn himself into a female.”
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