AG Pax­ton Com­mends 5th Cir­cuit Rul­ing that Spares Texas Tax­pay­ers from Fund­ing Sex-Change Surgery for Prisoners

AUSTIN, TX -- Attorney General Ken Paxton today commended last Friday’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that Texas prison officials do not violate transgender inmates’ constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment by refusing to provide them with gender reassignment surgery.

“The 5th Circuit’s decision is a win for Texas taxpayers and the rule of law,” Attorney General Paxton said. “Americans strongly believe in the legal and moral obligation to assure our criminal justice system imposes appropriate and humane penalties, but the 5th Circuit’s faithful analysis of the Constitution makes clear that obligation does not give convicted criminals a constitutional right to a taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgery.”

In a 2-1 decision, the 5th Circuit ruled against inmate Scott Lynn Gibson, who’s serving a 20-year prison sentence for the murder of another inmate, 13 years for a deadly assault attempt on a correctional guard, and 18 years for aggravated robbery. Gibson challenged the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s policy that provides hormone and mental health treatment but does not allow sex-change surgery as treatment for Gibson’s diagnosed gender identity disorder.

Writing for the majority, 5th Circuit Judge James Ho concluded that “[u]nder established precedent, it can be cruel and unusual punishment to deny essential medical care to an inmate. But that does not mean prisons must provide whatever care an inmate want