SACRAMENTO — A 57-year-old convicted killer serving a life sentence in California is the first inmate in the United States to receive state-financed sex-reassignment surgery, the prisoner’s lawyers said.
California prison officials agreed in August 2015 to pay for the surgery for the inmate, Shiloh Heavenly Quine, who was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery for ransom and has no possibility of parole.
Ms. Quine’s case led the state to become the first to set standards that will allow other transgender inmates to apply to receive state-financed sex-reassignment surgery.
It also prompted a federal magistrate to require California to provide transgender female inmates housed in men’s facilities with more female-oriented items like nightgowns, scarves and necklaces.