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Sex-change inmate Leslie ‘Krista’ Richard – Sunday Mail Adel
This is one of those cheap journalistic news items that attempts to grab debate and humiliate.
See if you can spot the errors in the story.
From the Sunday Mail Adelaide 16-10-2011
A TRANSSEXUAL prisoner is hitting back at prison authorities who refuse to let him wear women’s clothing.
Adelaide Remand Centre inmate Leslie “Krista” Richards has complained to the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity and the Ombudsman, alleging discrimination by being placed in a male prison.
Correctional Services has refused to let Richards, 61, wear women’s clothing since being arrested in May last year – despite the fact he was allowed to wear a dress and make-up when an inmate at Mobilong Prison between 1994 and 1998.
While in custody in 1997, Richards underwent partial gender reassignment, having an orchiectomy at taxpayers’ expense. He has been taking female hormones and preparing to undergo final gender re-assignment surgery.
Since being arrested for offences which are suppressed, Richards has been continually refused permission to dress as a female in prison or wear female clothing and make-up for court appearances.
He believes the stance taken by Correctional Services is “hypocritical and totally unreasonable” and that his stance is backed by a High Court decision last month which ruled two transgender people could legally be recognised as men even though they still had some female sex organs.
Although Richards has had an orchiectomy (removal of the testicles), he still has a penis.“I can’t function as a man and I prefer female company as well,” Richards told the Sunday Mail.
“I would feel more relaxed, less stressed and less depressed if allowed to live my life as a woman. I feel abused, degraded, belittled and totally inferior because of all of this.
“I can’t understand why they let me live as a woman while I was in Mobilong and yet now they say they have no policy that allows this. I don’t think I have any choice but to explore other legal avenues.”
In June, Richards lodged a complaint with the Commissioner For Equal Opportunity, but was advised last month it was unlikely to be acted upon because of definitions under the Act.A response from Correctional Services chief executive officer Peter Severin to the Commissioner states the department does not have a specific policy covering transgendered prisoners and such prisoners were managed “on a case-by-case basis”.
He states although Richards was taking female hormones while in custody in 1997 and 1998, when re-admitted to prison last year he was not taking hormones.
“It is my understanding therefore that Leslie Richards has clearly not undergone full gender reassignment since his release from prison in 1998 to his readmission in 2010; that he was admitted to prison as a male and will be treated as a male prisoner,” Mr Severin states.
He said yesterday the arrangements made for Richards in the 1990s were “unprecedented” and were subsequently found “on reflection to be entirely counterproductive to the good management of the prison”.
“We have moved on from there and learnt from it. Rules do change and I do not make any apology for that,” he said.Mr Severin said if Richards had undergone a full gender reassignment and internal assessments confirmed he was “a female he would have been admitted to the Adelaide Women’s Prison”
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