Inmate’s absurd demand

The Massachusetts Department of Correction should not be playing medical concierge to hardened criminals.

As the Herald’s Marie Szaniszlo reported, an inmate convicted of murder more than two decades ago is suing state Correction Commissioner Thomas A. Turco in a bid for taxpayerfunded sex-reassignment surgery.

Michelle Kosilek asked the court to order Turco to immediately transfer her from MCI-Norfolk, the men’s prison where she is serving a life sentence, to MCIFramingham, the state’s women’s prison. Additionally, Kosilek wants the Department of Correction to compel their contracted medical provider to schedule her for “gender-affirming” surgery.

Kosilek was known as Robert Kosilek in 1990 when she was convicted of murdering her wife, Cheryl.

The stress and anxiety Kosilek may be experiencing due to gender dysphoria is unfortunate, but there are no guarantees that it would be alleviated by a medical operation.

In addition, transferring her to a women’s prison — while she still has the physicality of a man — would be a potential danger to the women there, especially considering that Kosilek has already strangled one woman to death.

Also, experts have previously stated that many female prisoners have been victims of abuse at the hands of men and their own levels of stress and anxiety in the presence of Kosilek should be taken into account.

Committing murder has consequences. It is by no means the responsibility of the taxpayer to tend to the mental well-being of an inmate by funding expensive medical treatments at the whim of that inmate.

We believe in the humane treatment of prisoners but the burden of the residents of the commonwealth is not to provide for the happiness of murderers.