Michelle-Lael Norsworthy was well on her way to becoming a pioneer this year—the first U.S. inmate to receive gender reassignment surgery—when she was unexpectedly freed from Mule Creek State Prison in California.
In a ruling this week, two federal judges suggested the timing of her Aug. 12 release on parole wasn’t coincidental. Norsworthy had been denied parole at least five times since she entered prison on a second-degree murder charge in 1987. She wasn’t scheduled for another hearing until next year.
At the time Norsworthy walked out, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had been fighting an April order from a judge to provide her with the reassignment procedure, which can cost an estimated $20,000 and could set a precedent for others.
[For more of this story, written by Beth Schwartzapfel, go to https://www.themarshallproject...ked-out?ref=hp-1-111]
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