Fore Note: When you think people in this country can't get any dumber, folks in California take stupid to a whole new level.

California sets inmate sex reassignment rules

 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California prison officials are setting the first standards for which transgender inmates should receive state-funded sex-reassignment surgery after years of efforts to block the operations.

The federal court-appointed official who controls California's prison medical care says in an eight-page policy that inmates who request the surgery and meet basic criteria will be referred to committees of doctors and mental health professionals.

The policy was released Tuesday and reviewed by The Associated Press. It comes more than two months after California became the first state to agree to pay for one inmate's surgery, although it refused to provide it to a second inmate.

It prohibits procedures which are considered cosmetic, including hair removal, face lifts and breast implants.

A spokeswoman says the policy is believed to be the first in the nation.