A federal judge has ordered Ohio to restore hormone treatment to a transgender inmate who sued after her treatments were stopped.
A legal complaint says inmate Antione Lee, who refers to herself as Whitney Lee, experienced a medical setback and depression after prison officials abruptly stopped the treatment in February 2012. Judge Algenon Marbley ruled Wednesday the state's actions have harmed and injured Lee and Ohio must immediately resume Lee's estrogen treatment. The state argues Lee's case should have been dismissed because she didn't exhaust the administrative grievance process first. Court filings say the 36-year-old Lee has undergone continuous hormone therapy since 1999. She is in Mansfield Correctional Institution serving a three-year sentence on forgery and theft charges out of Hamilton County.
