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
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.