Michelle Kosilek

Michelle Kosilek (57 years old) formerly known as Robert Kosilek is a convicted murderer who has made headlines by fighting to undergo gender reassigment while in prison. She changed her name in 1993, and lives as a woman in an all-male prison. Although she identifies as a woman she is still a male physically and legally.

In 1990, she killed her spouse Cheryl. Michelle is serving a life sentence in Norfolk, Massachusetts.

She has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder. After suing the government in 2000 for violation of the Eighth Amendment, she has undergone female hormone therapy, laser hair therapy and psychotherapy.

In 2009, Kosilek lost her lawsuit attempting to force the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to provide electrolysis for the eighth time. On Sept. 4, 2012, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled that the state had violated Kosilek's constitutional rights by denying her gender reassignment surgery, noting that senior correction officials engaged in "pretense, pretext and prevarication" to deny the treatment. U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf ordered that the Department of Corrections provide Kosilek with the surgery.