Judge orders Idaho to give transgender inmate gender surgery

A federal judge says Idaho must provide gender confirmation surgery to a transgender inmate who has been living as a woman for years but who has continuously been housed in a men’s prison.

Barring any appeals, under the ruling Adree Edmo would become the first Idaho inmate to receive gender confirmation surgery while in Idaho Department of Correction custody.

The ruling in Idaho’s U.S. District Court was handed down by Judge B. Lynn Winmill on Thursday. In the ruling, Winmill said the Idaho Department of Correction and Corizon’s refusal to provide Edmo with the surgery puts her at risk of irreparable harm.

The state has six months to provide Edmo with the surgery, which will restructure her physical characteristics to match her gender identity.