Inmate seeking gender-affirming surgery moved to women's prison in Topeka

A convicted killer who has long sought gender-affirming surgery was moved from a men's prison to an all-women's prison in Topeka last week, at a time when prison inmates in the U.S. are increasingly being granted that procedure.

Michelle Renee Lamb, 81, became an inmate Friday in the central unit at Topeka Correctional Facility, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records.

Lamb, formerly known as Thomas Lamb, was previously an inmate at El Dorado Correctional Facility, a men's prison.

Lamb is serving three life terms for the 1969 aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder of 24-year-old Patricia Sue Kemmerle and the 1970 aggravated kidnapping of 18-year-old Patricia Childs, both in Johnson County.

It wasn't clear Wednesday if Lamb had received gender-affirming surgery. Lamb didn't immediately respond to a message on the prison's communication platform seeking comment.

Randall Bowman, KDOC's executive director of public affairs, wouldn't discuss Lamb's specific situation.

"Due to patient privacy concerns, KDOC and the Governor’s Office cannot comment on the specifics of medical care for any one individual," he said.

KDOC officials don't make health care decisions, Bowman added.

He said that under KDOC's contract with its health care provider, Centurion, no one procedure affects the overall rate that agency pays for health care.

"Thus, the cost of one single medical procedure for a resident is not directly passed onto the taxpayers," Bowman said.

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Inmates who sued won right to gender-confirmation surgery elsewhere

Transgender inmates in recent years have increasingly been granted gender reassignment surgery in the U.S.

In what was called a landmark decision, a federal judge last April ordered the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to arrange for gender dysphoria patient Cristina Nichole Iglesias to become the first person to receive gender reassignment surgery while in federal custody.

Gender dysphoria is a sense of unease regarding a person's mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity that's so severe it may lead to depression and anxiety, with some turning to self-harm and suicide.

Courts have also ordered gender reassignment surgery to be provided to inmates in Wisconsin and Idaho, while California maintains a policy granting inmates access to that surgery.

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Michelle Lamb sued seeking surgery

U.S. District Court records show Lamb in 2016 sued KDOC and its then-medical care provider, Corizon, alleging they violated Lamb's Eighth Amendment rights by failing to effectively treat Lamb's gender dysphoria in accordance with current medical standards and by housing Lamb in conditions that violated Lamb's constitutional rights.

Lamb had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the lawsuit petition said.

Lamb asked for more comprehensive treatment of that condition, access to more female items in prison, recognition by the corrections department of the legal name change to "Michelle Renee Lamb" made in 2007 and transfer to a female-only prison.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren in July 2017 issued a summary judgment denying Lamb's requests without a trial.

The state and Corizon were obligated to treat Lamb’s gender dysphoria but not in the specific manner Lamb preferred, Melgren wrote.

An appeals court upheld that ruling in 2018.

1970 kidnapping was aimed at financing gender reassignment surgery

Topeka Capital-Journal archives show that Lamb in January 1970 used a gun to kidnap Patricia Childs from the parking lot of an Overland Park shopping mall, then forced her to telephone her parents and demand ransom money, allegedly to pay for gender reassignment surgery for Lamb. Childs obeyed Lamb's order to tell her parents not to call police.

But Childs' father, Overland Park medical supply salesman Joseph J. Childs, called the police. Officers staked out the area involved as Joseph Childs met with Lamb the next day in a parking lot near Olathe, where Joseph Childs exchanged the money for his daughter.

When police moved in, Lamb led officers on a high-speed chase, which ended when Lamb's car struck a police car at a roadblock.

At Lamb's home, police found a purse and other property belonging to Kemmerle, who had been strangled to death the previous month before her nude, snow-covered body was found in a cornfield near Olathe.

Five days after being arrested, Lamb and another inmate — who had gotten possession of a gun while working as a jail trustee — captured a jailer and three dispatchers and locked them in a cell.

Lamb and the other inmate escaped, abducted a customer from a nearby cafe and left with him in his car but were subsequently captured at a roadblock.

In June 1970, Lamb was sentenced to three consecutive life terms in prison for the first-degree murder of Kemmerle and the aggravated kidnappings of Kemmerle and Patricia Childs.

In 1979, Lamb escaped from Lansing Correctional Facility but was recaptured after leading police on a high-speed vehicle chase.

In 1987, Lamb escaped from Larned State Hospital, stole a car from its owner at knife-point, then again led police on a high-speed chase before being captured.

After Lamb was denied parole in 2001, Lamb filed a libel suit contending a Kansas City Star reporter had made false and defamatory statements in an article published as Lamb's parole was being considered.

A federal appeals court ruled against Lamb in 2004, saying Lamb's actions had diminished Lamb's reputation to the point that Lamb had become "libel-proof."

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Transgender inmate Michelle Lamb moved to Topeka Correctional Facility