(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The ACLU wants the Illinois Department of Corrections to be held in contempt of court for allegedly failing to give proper care to inmates who are transgender.
From the perspective of the ACLU, the premise is this: When the state takes custody of someone -- a prisoner or a ward of the state, for examples -- the state is responsible for treating that person.
The civil-liberties organization says giving a prison inmate gender-affirming surgery is just as necessary as providing cardiac surgery for an inmate with heart disease.
“We don’t get to pick and choose which care we’re going to provide and which ones we aren’t,” says ACLU Spokesman Ed Yohnk.
He says the Department of Corrections has not complied with a court order from the summer of 2021 requiring the prison system to give proper care to its population of 170 or so trans inmates.
The ACLU is asking that a judge hold the prison system in contempt at the next court case status hearing, in a month.
WBBM Newsradio has asked IDOC for a response.
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