By MATTHEW VAN DUSEN
Star-Tribune staff writer  11/28/03

Intersexual Woman Sues Prison

An intersexed woman -- generally called a hermaphrodite -- is suing the Wyoming Department of Corrections in United States District Court for placing her in solitary confinement during a 14-month sentence at the Wyoming Women's Center in Lusk.

The plaintiff, Miki Ann Dimarco of Douglas, was born intersexed but was raised and lives as a female and has undergone hormone therapy, according to court documents. She was sentenced as a female to the Women's Center, and went to the jail on May 3, 2000.

When she arrived at the jail, officers strip-searched her for unusual marks or tattoos "and noticed the presence of a penis" but no other genitalia.

Dimarco qualified to be in the minimum security general population, but was placed in an area used to punish inmates. The department replied in court documents that the Women's Center psychiatrist recommended she be segregated and she was not in solitary confinement.

Segregated inmates cannot attend Alcoholics Anonymous, visit the gym, visit the law or general libraries, talk to other inmates, attend religious services, have regular visitors or qualify for the work release program, the documents state.

Dimarco claims she was placed in solitary confinement because the Women's Center does not have a policy for intersexual prisoners. She claims she repeatedly asked to be moved but officials denied her requests, and she was segregated for her 14-month sentence.

She also alleges she asked to be moved to a warmer cell and asked officials to make provisions for her lupus and multiple sclerosis. She was moved but still complained about the cold cell.

In January, she sued corrections employees, including then-Director of Corrections Judith Uphoff and Warden Nola Blackburn, under the Eighth Amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment. She has also asked for an injunction that would prevent the department from "continuing to isolate, segregate or otherwise ignore or sweep under the rug intersexual prisoners."

She is also suing under the Fourteenth Amendment, saying she did not receive due process before officials segregated her. She is asking for $75,000 in damages for emotional distress and other unspecified damages.

Judge Clarence Brimmer has dismissed other claims under the Americans With Disabilities Act and state claims.

Dimarco's attorney Tom Sedar was not available for comment at home or at work on Wednesday. Judith Uphoff, reached at her home, declined comment. Dimarco could not be reached for comment.

State Attorney General Pat Crank said his staff is preparing for trial but had no other comment.

The trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 20, 2004, at 9:30 a.m. in Casper. The court will travel to the Women's Center in Lusk to tour the facility the following day.

 

Intersexual prison case begins in federal court

By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press writer

CHEYENNE -- A federal trial began Tuesday in the case of an intersexual person who says she was unfairly kept in solitary confinement at the Wyoming Women's Center in Lusk.

Miki Ann Dimarco, 44, of Douglas, was imprisoned for violating the terms of her parole on check-fraud charges. She says she spent all of her 14-month sentence four years ago in solitary confinement.

At issue in the case before U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer is whether that was cruel and unusual or whether prison officials were right to separate Dimarco to protect her.

The non-jury trial is expected to wrap up before midday Friday.

Dimarco's attorney, Tom Sedar of Casper, said Dimarco, just before she was sent to Lusk, was kept with the female population of the Albany County jail without problems. But he said state prison officials seemed concerned from the start about what to do with her.

He described how Dimarco was strip-searched when she was processed into the Wyoming Women's Center. "They say, 'Turn around, we want to see what's going on here.' Which is very, very embarrassing for her," he said.

According to Sedar, Dimarco was put in solitary confinement even though she was not considered a threat to others. "They rated her the very lowest they could rate her as far as her being a risk to the community up there," he said.

Besides keeping her away from others, the solitary confinement meant Dimarco could be outside her cell just 5.5 hours a day and could not have a variety of personal items -- even a watch or clock.

"Five hundred, 1,000 years ago, when Christ was walking the earth, at least lepers were treated better than that," Sedar said. "She was being treated worse than a leper."

He said guards noted frequently that Dimarco seemed depressed.

Dimarco sexually identifies herself as female. She has female hair patterns and breasts but underdeveloped male reproductive organs. She has no female reproductive organs, according to psychologist Martha Schilling, the first witness to take the stand.

Dimarco is not considered a hermaphrodite, which is a person who has both male and female reproductive organs.

Schilling also said that Dimarco's No. 23 chromosome pair is XY, the pattern for a male. The female pattern is XX.

In the prosecution's opening statements, Senior Assistant Attorney General Craig Kirkwood referred to a lawsuit filed by an inmate at the Wyoming State Penitentiary -- the men's prison in Rawlins -- who claimed he was not adequately protected from inmates who eventually attacked him.

"This case ... ultimately will be about, can the Department of Corrections do anything right?" Kirkwood said.

Kirkwood mentioned that Dimarco has provided seven Social Security numbers to authorities, none of which has checked out. "The testimony is going to reveal that ... to this day they don't know who this individual is," he said.

He pointed out that 75-90 percent of inmates at the Wyoming Women's Center have been abused by men at some point and said those inmates were considered a potential threat to Dimarco.

"What is this institution supposed to do because they have a male ... because he managed to fool a district judge," he said.

Kirkwood disputed the Dimarco's claim she was kept in solitary confinement, characterizing it instead as "close restrictive."

"We could keep her in the Women's Center, we could keep her in the men's center, or we could keep her in the Women's Center under conditions that she didn't particularly like but kept her safe," he said.

Dimarco has short-cropped, white hair. She wore a white blouse, gray vest, gray skirt, jewelry and glasses.