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Virginia prisoner Ophelia De'lonta was born Michael A. Stokes. She was diagnosed with gender identity disorder, a condition in which a person does not identify with his or her birth gender. Prior to her diagnoses in 1993, she had cut herself regularly. With the prescribed regular estrogen treatments from the Correction Department in 1993, the self-mutilation ceased completely.  Two years later in 1995, the medial director of the state Corrections Department decided to limit the availability of hormone treatments for these prisoners. Under the new settlement agreement, the state rescinds that policy and, as was first reported by the Richmond Times Dispatch, agrees that " the care of inmates with GID (gender identity disorder) will be guided by doctors experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of GID." According to Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, this policy was "akin to withholding chemotherapy for cancer patients." Shortly after Ophelia's treatments were denied, the pattern of self-mutilation began again. She even went so far as to mail some of her flesh to the governor. That piece of mail was intercepted. In 1999, De'lonta filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to begin her estrogen treatments again. Joined by the ACLU in 2002, De'lonta's attorney, Victor M. Glasberg, said that the lawsuit's agreement "addresses far more broadly the undertaking of the state to treat transsexuals."  A federal judge ruled against De'lonta, but the 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals did return the case to a lower court. Spokesman for General Jerry W. Kilgore, Timothy Murtaugh said, "The commonwealth of Virginia is not in the business of changing men into women." He continued to say that withholding treatment which prevents self-mutilation is medical malpractice. The state's intention is to provide proper treatment. The Corrections Department policy is to seek out inmates with gender identity disorder and administer evaluation and treatment. It is also possible that prison security will require education on the proper treatment of transsexual inmates and the appropriate measures needed to maintain their safety.  The lawsuit indicates that De'lonta has made at least 20 castration attempts, all of which were unsuccessful. The ACLU adds that two of these attempts resulted in her being airlifted to the hospital, and the simple use of hormone treatment could have prevented it. Spokesman for the Corrections Department, Larry Traylor, says that the state does not know what percentage of the 31,000 prisoners in Virginia are transsexuals.
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