A transgender inmate is suing the Florida Department of Corrections. The woman argues she is being denied medically necessary treatment.
Reiyn Keohane is a transgender woman currently being held in a male prison. Keohane has identified as female since the age of 12, and began hormone therapy at the age of 19. Since entering the Everglades Correctional Institution she has been denied that therapy. Keohane, like many transgender people, suffers from gender dysphoria. That’s a diagnosed medical condition of clinically significant distress resulting from identifying as a gender other than the sex assigned at birth. Treatment for gender dysphoria can include counseling, hormone therapy, and social, legal and sometimes medical transition. Keohane’s lawyers argue that denying her medically necessary treatment is cruel and unusual, and unconstitutional under the 8th Amendment.
