A transgender inmate who sued Idaho after being denied gender confirmation surgery will reportedly be awarded $2.5 million in legal fees.
Adree Edmo began a lawsuit against Idaho and the state department of correction’s health care provider in 2017, according to the Associated Press.
Edmo was imprisoned at the time at a men’s facility, serving a 10-year sentence for sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy.
“In the suit, Edmo had sought access to a legal name change, “gender appropriate” clothing, and “gender affirming” surgeries. Edmo, who was housed in a male prison at the time, also demanded a transfer to a women’s facility,” Reduxx noted.
“Edmo claimed in her lawsuit that her Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment were violated when her surgery was denied,” Idaho News stated.
From Reduxx:
In 2018, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that Edmo was at risk of “irreparable harm” without the surgery, and ordered the state to pay for it. The state appealed, with one of their lawyers noting that the medical professionals treating Edmo agreed that he did not qualify for the surgery due to his “uncontrolled mental health issues.” The state’s lawyer also said that Edmo had refused to participate in therapy to help prepare for the procedure.
The appeal was unsuccessful, and Edmo received his surgery and was subsequently transferred to women’s prison in 2020 to serve the remainder of his sentence. He was released in 2021.
Child rapist awarded $2.5 million in legal fees after suing the state of Idaho for denying “gender surgeries.”
Adree Edmo had been transferred to a women's prison just before release in 2021. https://t.co/vKjKTEkzov
— An Open Secret (@AnOpenSecret) October 6, 2022
— Adree Edmo (@AdreeEdmo) October 10, 2021
Idaho News added:
According to the Associated Press, a federal judge recently ordered Idaho and its prison medical care provider to “pay more than $2.5 million in legal fees” to Edmo.
The difference between the requested and awarded amounts is reportedly due to the judge agreeing with the defendants that some of the legal fees were too high. That apparently means Edmo is still having her legal fees covered, despite the lesser awarded amount.
That awarded money will reportedly not come from taxpayer dollars, however. The AP says that the awarded millions will be covered by Corizon Correctional Healthcare “under a separate agreement with the state.”
Corizon and Idaho reportedly agreed back in December that Corizon would pay the cost of any awarded legal fees to Edmo if Idaho agreed not to ask Corizon to cover the state’s attorney costs.
Cont. from Reduxx:
During the case proceedings, Edmo claimed he had been living as a woman prior to his incarceration, and that his gender dysphoria was severe. But in 2018, one of his past victims spoke to media and contested his narrative.
Brady Summers, who dated Edmo for two years, said that Edmo had not been living as a woman before going to prison and had always presented as a masculine gay man.
“Never once indicated anything of gender dysphoria,” Summers said, recounting his experience with Edmo, “He was a predator. He, on several occasions, had his way with me. It was brutal.”
Summers was subjected to continuous abuse by Edmo during their relationship, which had been the first Summers had ever been in after coming out.
“He would beat me on a constant basis. I had to keep my head low. I had to be careful what I said, careful what I did. And the final straw of me escaping was him beating me with a frying pan.”
Edmo did a stint in jail for the abuse, but attempted to reconcile with Summers once he was released. Not long after, Edmo sexually assaulted an underage boy at a house party. Edmo was charged with the sexual abuse of a child under the age of 16, and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime in 2012.
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