Transgender California Inmate Wins Parole
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Jerry Brown is allowing parole for a transgender inmate who is trying to force California to become the first state to pay for sex reassignment surgery.

In April, a federal judge ordered the state to provide the surgery to the inmate, Michelle-Lael Norsworthy. The surgery had been scheduled for July, but it was delayed after the state appealed.

The governor’s office said Friday that Mr. Brown was taking no action on the Board of Parole Hearings’ recommendation to release Ms. Norsworthy, which means her parole will proceed.

The decision makes it less likely that Ms. Norsworthy, 51, will be able to have surgery paid for by the prison before she is released. A spokesman for the parole board, Luis Patino, said it usually takes about a week for an inmate to be released after the governor allows a parole to proceed.

Mr. Brown decided Ms. Norsworthy is no longer dangerous, 30 years after being convicted of second-degree murder for fatally shooting Franklin Gordon Liefer Jr., 26, following an argument in a Fullerton bar in 1985. Mr. Liefer died six weeks later.

Ms. Norsworthy testified at her parole hearing in May that she accepts responsibility for her crime. She said at the time of the fatal attack, she was “pretty much drinking every day all day” but is now sober and attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in prison.

She said she also takes steps to control her anger and make better judgments.

Ms. Norsworthy is incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison, a men’s prison in Ione, near Sacramento. Prison records refer to her by her birth name of Jeffrey Bryan Norsworthy, though she has lived as a woman since the 1990s.

She was diagnosed with gender identity disorder in 1999 and began taking female hormones. Ms. Norsworthy began asking the corrections department for the surgery in 2012 after learning a judge for the first time had ordered Massachusetts to provide an inmate with the procedure. However, the Massachusetts decision was overturned on appeal in December, and the Supreme Court declined to intervene.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed to hear California’s appeal of Judge Jon S. Tigar’s ruling in April and a hearing is scheduled for Thursday. The appellate court noted that the case raises serious legal questions about whether denying the surgery violates Ms. Norsworthy’s constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says it has met all of its legal requirements by providing Ms. Norsworthy with counseling and hormone therapy.

The state filed paperwork in federal court Friday saying it has agreed to provide sex reassignment surgery for another inmate, Shiloh Quine, 56, to settle a separate lawsuit.

Ms. Quine, formerly known as Rodney James Quine, is serving a life sentence for murder, kidnapping and robbery.

付費讓囚犯變性？ 加州政府乾脆放了他

加州州長布朗讓一名要求州府付費讓他做變性手術的跨性受刑人假釋，加州因此沒有成為美國第一個為受刑人變性手術付費的州。

今年4月，一位聯邦法官裁定加州應該付錢讓諾斯沃西做變性手術，以便美國憲法賦予他的醫療權獲得尊重。手術原本排在6月，因州府上訴而延後。

加州州長辦公室7日表示，假釋委員會5月在諾斯沃西案聽證會後建議給予諾斯沃西假釋，布朗未持異議。也就是說，假釋成立。

《紐約時報》報導，51歲的諾斯沃西假釋出獄，比較沒有途徑要求州府為他的手術埋單。假釋委員會發言人表示，州長准許假釋進行之後，獄方通常大約一周就會放人。

布朗認為，諾斯沃西服刑30年後，已不具危險性。

諾斯沃西1985年在酒吧爭吵，開槍打死一人，兩年後被判二級殺人罪成立，判刑17年至終身監禁。在今年5月的假釋聽證裡，他承認罪行，表示當年他「差不多每天整天喝酒」，但如今已經清醒，參加獄中戒酒會，並且學習控制脾氣，判斷力已有改善。

諾斯沃西在男監獄服刑，使用原名傑弗瑞．布萊恩．諾斯沃西，但1990年代以來過是女性生活，成為跨性人 (出生時因性徵而歸屬某個性別，但後來認為那個性別對自己是錯誤或不完整的描述)。他改名蜜雪兒．蕾伊．諾斯沃西。

1999年，諾斯沃西被診斷「性別認同失調」，開始服用女性賀爾蒙。2012年，她獲知一位法官諭令麻州州府付費供一名受刑人做變性手術，要求加州州府依樣。不過，麻州州府上訴成功，美國聯邦最高法院也拒絕干預。

聯邦法官4月裁定加州應該為諾斯沃西的手術付費後，州府上訴，美國第九巡迴上訴法院同意審理，定13日開庭。現在州府先放人，案情可能轉趨單純。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/us/transgender-california-inmate-wins-parole.html

2015-08-09．聯合晚報．A4．焦點．編譯彭淮棟