Another Bradley Manning debate but I’d like to concentrate on this issue rather than others such as the length of the sentence.
Specifically, what should the taxpayers pay for?
My opinion:
Counseling-without a doubt.
Hormone treatment-probably, but testosterone shots do increase aggression; should be be giving them?
Surgery-here is where i get conflicted. Are breast implants necessary to live as a woman? If so, should we pay for implants for all women who want larger breasts? What about facial feminization surgery? Chest surgery for transmen? Laser hair removal?
Where should trans prisoners be housed, with their birth gender or with their new gender? What about trans prisoners who are partially or fully transitioned before incarceration? Clearly transwomen who are post-surgical should probably be housed with women but since many transmen don’t undergo bottom surgery, should they be housed with women or men? Should the prisoner have a choice?
Housing might be a problem, although there are prisons in the U.S. that already deal with transvestitism. The inmates are kept away from the general population, for obvious reasons. Such prisoners are permitted to indulge in cross-dressing.
(I only have a weak cite: I was in correspondence for many years with a guy who was a guard at the famous Angola prison in Louisiana. This is the prison that is, perhaps, most famous for “Prisoner Rodeo.” Obviously, practices will differ from one prison to another.)
In my opinion, hormones and surgery should be provided for transgender people both in and out of prison. Of course, I’m one of those evil filthy socialists who thinks we should have single payer UHC because its cheaper and works better.
The policy back when I was working (in New York) was that the state would provide all necessary health care - but gender reassignment was regarded as an elective procedure and as such was not provided or allowed. Prisoners who were incarcerated while on hormone therapies were continued at a maintenance level as necessary but they weren’t moved forward in their path of gender change. The decision to house a transgender prisoner in a male or female prison would be based on their current physical state at the time they were incarcerated.
A false equivalency. If you want to torment and kill transgendered people you might as well just admit it and go and do it honestly. Because let’s be clear, that’s the effect of untreated transgenderism; it tends to end in death, with a lot of suffering on the way.
You do realize that if that qualifies as a reason to not provide medical treatment, then it applies to all medical treatment? Perhaps we should just make the medical profession illegal, if that’s the position you want to take.
dude, life is a terminal condition, everybody dies sometime.
Keep them on maintenance at wherever they were when they got caught, give them counseling and pick one prison in the country that has enough space for a wannabe men section and a wannabe women section. They all get shipped there to be incarcerated as whichever flavor they want to be [makes it easy to medicate them and counsel them] but they have to have verifiable by licensed doctor transitions in progress already, not someone who hasn’t started yet. And no, they do not get the operation. They can do it if they ever get out. Might be nice to throw in some how to dress, makeup and act whichever gender they want to end up as recreational therapy.
Probably the best way to assure that they wont get abused by the nontrans inmates - one hopes that inmates in the same type of transition would be a bit more understanding towards each other.
Do you have an alternative? Do you know of some procedure that avoids death?
If not, let’s stick with rational answers. Do you have evidence that untreated transgendered people die as a result of not being treated? And, yes, let’s have a cite that’s a little more authoritative than your post.
Again, a argument that applies to everything, and can justify anything. Really, that sounds like something some over-the-top game or comics villain says before they murder someone; not a serious argument.
What’s the point of counseling when you’ve forbidden them the recommended course of treatment?
In other words, you want to make sure that they don’t get the proper treatment and become more and more traumatized and irrational over time. Why not just kill them if you hate them that much, instead of essentially torturing them then releasing them into near-certain disaster? Your way is pointless sadism that will get more people hurt, considering the mental state they’ll likely be when released.
:rolleyes: What are you trying to argue for, mass murder? Nuke a city then shrug “Hey, everybody dies”.
Do you have evidence that they don’t, given that you are asking for evidence of something well known? If you are that much in denial then I doubt that anything would convince you.
The “mental well-being” of prisoners is no concern of mine and I don’t think we need to be spending money on making prison inmates feel good about themselves.