Months after a botched castration attempt, a Virginia inmate wishing to be a woman has filed a federal lawsuit claiming the state failed to provide adequate medical care because it won’t perform a sex-change operation.
Ophelia De’lonta, 50, says she needs the surgery to treat her gender identity disorder, a condition in which people believe they were born the wrong gender.
Ophelia De’lonta hoped three green disposable razors from the prison commissary would give her what the Virginia Department of Corrections will not, a sex change.
“This is not something that I have any control over,” said De’lonta, who was born Michael Stokes. “This is just how I was born.”
De’lonta, who developed breasts with the use of hormones won under a 2004 court order, has tried self-surgery several times in the past. Her urges had been kept in check in recent years with the help of hormones and other treatments.
After crying herself to sleep, De’lonta papered over her cell door’s window and covered the toilet with towels.
Then, using the knowledge she gained from mail-order anatomy books, De’lonta spent three hours trying to cut off what she refers to as “that thing” between her legs.
She eventually passed out and 21 stitches were needed to repair the damage.
“It’s like if this doesn’t exist, then I won’t have any more problems.“
She is eligible for parole this year, but a wide range of prison infractions mean it’s unlikely she’ll be released any time soon.
