A Wild Elegance Issue One, Post One

July / August 2006

Included here:
Sex Abuse at State Prisons
Scientific Proof of transsexual
Some facts About transsexual and Incarceration

SEX ABUSE AT STATE PRISONS
According to the U.S. Justice Departments Bureau of Justice Statistics, sexual abuse of state prisoners by their keepers is rampant in this country. In 2004 alone, more than 8,000 reports of sexual abuse and assault were made against corrections officials in state and federal prisons across this country, according to co­author of the study, Allen J. Beck.

Of the 8,200 reports of sexual abuse by prison officials and staff against prison inmates, 1/3 of them were deemed substantiated. 15% of the assaults were still being investigated, and the study claims that prison officials determined that 55% of the claims by inmate victims were false or there was not enough evidence to support or reject the claims.

Sexual assaults by prison guards are also deemed to be underreported by prisoners, who likely are fearful of retaliation or being labeled a liar. Everyone doing time knows that prison officials will file disciplinary charges against prisoners for reporting abuse from prison staff, to discourage such reporting of abuse in the future.

If you would like more information on these statistics, contact the US Justice Departments Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Reports of Sexual abuse by prison guards at Juvenile Prisons are reported at ten times the rate they are in adult facilities. According to the study, there were 10 reported incidents of sexual abuse per 2000 youths at State run juvenile facilities. I am pretty sure that I am not the only one who is not surprised that there are a bunch of pedophiles working in our Juvenile Facilities as prison guards.

If you have been the victim of sexual abuse by a prison guard. You must report the abuse. It may be difficult, but not doing so puts others at risk. Get outside officials involved as well, DOC officials should never be the sole investigators of your sexual victimization. They may not always be objective.

You may be retaliated against for reporting such abuse. That is the price you must be willing to pay for doing what is right. Doing the right thing is not always easy, but you must still do it.

SCIENTIFIC PROOF OF TRANSSEXUALISM

Scientists in Holland at the Netherlands Institute of Brain Research Discovered in 1995 that transsexuals, that is, biological males who identify as women, have a strikingly different Brain structure than normal biological males.

The research was reported in the Journal NATURE and reported that a particular area of the brain that is normally 44 percent larger in men, is not the same size in male to female transsexuals. This area of the brain in MTF's is the same size as in biological females. The particular area of the brain in question is believed to influence gender identification, ones perception of oneself as male or female.

The authors of the study believe now that transsexuals are born the way they are. That these changes in the brain are the result of a genetic anomaly.

Although there have been some scientists who state that this research proves nothing, and that these changes in the brain structure may be due to the influence of estrogenic medications that the MTF's are taking, this suggestion is somewhat at odds with reality and probably wishful thinking by people with negative attitudes toward transsexuals. These pundits also claim the different brain structure is the result of treating GID with female hormones.

The idea that the changes in brain structure could be caused by MTF's taking female hormones seems absurd, since the brain has no estrogen or testosterone receptors, there is no way that brain tissue could increase or decrease in size based on hormonal influences that occur postnatally.

Currently, scientists at UCLA Geffen School of Medicine are doing genetic research to prove that transsexuals are born, not made. That we are the result of genetic defects which result in the development of a female brain structure.

The leading geneticist involved in the research at UCLA, Dr. Eric Vilain, hopes to prove this by doing MRI studies of the brains of transsexuals who have never taken female hormones, and then doing further MRI studies after these same subjects have begun female hormone therapy.

SOME FACTS ABOUT TRANSSEXUALISM AND INCARCERATION

Transsexual prisoners do not have a right to be housed in a facility consistent with their gender identity. If you have not had gender reassignment surgery, you will virtually always be classified by your birth sex, regardless of how long you have lived as a female, or how much feminization and procedures you have undergone. This often puts transsexual prisoners at great risk of predation by male inmates. People who have had gender reassignment surgery are generally classified according to their reassigned gender.

One method that is sometimes used to protect transsexual women who are at risk of violence due to being housed in male prisons is to separate them from male prisoners. This is done by placing them in what is called administrative segregation. There is nothing at all positive about administrative segregation. It is generally a placement that exists only in punitive segregation units and such units are known to be incubators of psychosis.

Some transsexual prisoners are able to obtain hormone therapy in prison. Others are not. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has a policy which allows hormone therapy, and states that they will maintain inmates on the hormone levels they were at prior to incarceration.

Even if a prison system does provide hormones however, there is no guarantee that they will be provided at the appropriate levels, and with the necessary physical and psychological support services. At times, prison officials flout their own policy and arbitrarily deny hormones even when they are technically allowed.

The issue of whether or not a transsexual inmate is entitled to hormone therapy while in prison has been litigated extensively in the federal courts, based on the established constitutional principle that it is a violation of the 8th amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment for prison officials to exhibit deliberate indifference to a prisoners serious medical needs. Until the last few years however, in almost every case, courts have ruled in favor of prison officials.

More recently however, prisoners have had more success. The following cases may prove helpful.
Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994); Farmer v. Haas, 900 F.2d 319 ( 7th circuit 1993); Maggert v. Hanks, 131 F..3d 670 ( 7th circuit 1997); South v. Gomez, 211 F.2d 1275, 2000 WL 222611 ( 9th circuit) ; Kosilek v. Nelson, 2000 WL 1346898 (D.Mass 2000); Kosilek v. Maloney, 221 F.Supp 2d 156 ( D. Mass 2002); Phillips v. Michigan Dept of Corrections 731 F. Supp 792 ( W..D. of Mich. 1990) affd 932 F2d 969 ( 6th Circuit 1991) granting preliminary injunction against prison officials ordering them to provide hormone therapy to a preop transsexual woman who had been taking estrogen for several years prior to transfer to another prison, and most recently,Konitzer V. Bartow et a/., case number 03-C-717, Eastern District of Wisconsin, in which Federal Judge Charles Clevert ordered the defendants to continue the plaintiffs (Konitzer, ie: yours truly) hormone therapy.

A Wild Elegance, Issue One, Post Two
included here :
Ask Mamma Michelle
resource Listing

ASK MOMMA MICHELLE

Dear Momma Michelle:
I'm Serving a life sentence and these people won't even let me see a psychologist to talk about my suffering. They won't give anyone hormones unless they were on them prior to being incarcerated. Can they do this. Help me, Please. Amy.

Amy, Federal courts have ruled more than once that prison systems can't refuse medical treatment for GID because the inmate can't prove previous treatment. See Kosilek V. Maloney 221 F. Supp. 156 (2002); De'Lonta V. Angelone, 4th circuit court of appeals; Brooks v. Berg 270 F. Supp. 302, 312 (ND of new york 2003). All of these courts ruled that policies denying hormones without an individual medical evaluation by a qualified specialist in gender identity disorder, were illegal.

Dear Momma Michelle:
We aren't allowed to grow our hair in our state prison. Can they
do this to us? Brenda.

Brenda, If they do not make the biological females at the
womens prisons cut all their hair, you may have an equal
protection claim under the 14th amendment. However, you
may also have a case based on their stated reasons for not
allowing inmates to grow their hair out at male institutions. It
depends on their reasoning.

Dear Momma Michelle:
I've been plucking my eyebrows and facial hair, but it never ends, don't they ever just die? Debbie.

Debbie, Sorry honey, but they never just die. The problem is testosterone, which controls the growth of facial hair in men and women ( though much less so in biological women). This is why post-menopausal women who are not taking an estrogen supplement often wind up growing a mustache. The testosterone receptors in a biological males face are the strongest in the body. Even a tiny bit of testosterone will cause you to grow facial hair. Unless you have electrolysis or laser hair removal to destroy the area that the hair grows from, you will have to pluck, and pluck and pluck and pluck!

Dear Momma Michelle:
Is a law library hard to use? Gloria

Gloria, Not for what we usually need. The important cases are
listed like this: Kosilek v. Maloney 221 F Supp 2nd. 156. This
means book number 221 of the 2nd series of the Federal
Supplement at page 156. All the information that you need is in
the published opinion on the pages within this case. Learn as
much as you can about the law girl, because getting help from
others often means being manipulated in ways that are not
very appealing.

Dear Momma Michelle:
Are there any prisons that have a special housing unit for women like us and are such units like living in segregation? Honey.

Honey, The only two places that I know of are a 40 bed unit at Vacaville prison in California. Vacaville is the California medical facility for prisoners. Although this special unit only houses women like us, the DOC there still insists on treating them like men! Another place is a Federal medium security facility near Butner N.C., which is the usual location for trans prisoners that wind up in the federal system. If you have already had SRS, you will generally be placed in a female prison, neither of the above mentioned units are lockdown units. They are not like being in segregation, its GP status.

Dear Momma Michelle:
I've never been on Estrogen; what happens besides breast growth? Diane.

Diane, many wonderful things and a few aggravating things. Your body fat will begin to redistribute in a pattern that matches that of other women. Bigger rounder bottom, more curve to your hips, your male muscle mass will disappear and you will lose upper body strength, your hair will get thicker and softer, your skin will get softer, beard will grow slower, but so will your nails and they may get thin and break easily. The smell of your perspiration will change for the better. Loss of scalp hair will slow or stop, with some regrowth in some cases. It will also seem like you have more patience, and your depression may disappear very rapidly. You will get silly at times and cry a lot at other times, just like you are going through puberty, because you are. Its a wonderful experience. The above are just some of the changes you will notice.

Dear Momma Michelle:
My voice is not very feminine, what can I do to change it? Janice.

Janice. The best way is with the help of a speech therapist who specializes in speech/voice issues for transsexual patients. Otherwise there is practice practice practice. There is a book called Speaking as a woman, by Alison laing which purports to and suggests that it teaches MTF's how to speak like a woman but that is misleading. It teaches some of the differences between male and female speech, but it does not really teach you how to achieve the female sounding voice. Watch other women when they talk. Women pronounce words very differently than men do. It is almost as though women speak an entirely different form of the English language than men do. One good way to practice working on your voice is to read out loud to yourself.


RESOURCE LISTING
NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS
SHANNON MINTER, LEGAL DIRECTOR ( Shannon is a man)
870 MARKET STREET
SUITE #370
SAN FRANCISCO CA 94102 Ph: (415) 392-6257

TGI JUSTICE PROJECT
ATTENTION: ALEX LEE
1322 WEBSTER ST.
SUITE #201
OAKLAND CA 94612
Ph: (510)677-5500

PRISON LEGAL NEWS
2400 NW 80th STREET #148
SEATTLE WA 98117-4449
( monthly mag which covers prison legal issues/conditions of
confinement/prisoners rights cases. VERY instructive and
worth every Penny at 18$ a year)

ATTORNEY FRANKLIN ROMEO
LAMBDA LEGAL NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS
120 WALL STREET
SUITE 1500
NEW YORK NY 10005-3904 (212) 809-8585 Ext. # 288

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE AFSC
CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROGRAM
1611 TELEGRAPH AVE
SUITE 1501
OAKLAND CA 94612

JAMES ESSEX
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
LESBIAN & GAY RIGHTS PROJECT
125 BROAD ST
18TH FLOOR
NEW YORK NY 10004

MS. PUBLISHERS
1600 WILSON BLVD
SUITE 801
ARLINGTON VA 22209
(free subscription to female prisoners)

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE AFSC
CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROGRAM
2161 MASSACHUSETTS AVE
CAMBRIDGE MA 02140

INTERFAITH ADVOCATES
111MILBURNST
ROCHESTER NY 14607-2918

Back to wild Elegance, Post One

On to post Three

A Wild Elegance, Issue One , Post three
included here: Even In America,
poetry Corner,
transsexualism and Incarceration

EVEN IN AMERICA
By Michelle Lynne Kosilek

Imagine if you will, that you have a potentially fatal illness and you get put in prison, where the U.S. Supreme Court says you have an absolute right to state paid medical treatment, because the state has, by virtue of your imprisonment, deprived you of a living wage that would allow you to provide for your own medical care.

For seventeen years, you slowly die a little bit every day while you try to convince your jailers that you have this condition and even provide them with a clinical diagnosis from a qualified medical professional. They ignore this diagnosis and continue to refuse to have you seen by any clinician who specializes in the treatment of this condition.

In frustration you file a federal civil rights lawsuit and your jailers respond by telling the judge that you are crazy, that you have a diagnosis called Borderline Personality Disorder, a mental illness that closely mimics psychosis. The court believes this and dismisses your complaint because you have no expert testimony to support your claims.

You try to get back into court, but you don't have the resources to attack the state's deceptive litigation practices, and you have no money for an attorney, so you ask the prison trained legal aides for help and they refuse by order of the warden at your facility, who tells you that this is not a valid challenge to the conditions of your confinement! You appeal this decision, and your appeal is denied on the basis that your complaint is not a valid challenge to your conditions of confinement and that they ( the prison system ) do not have to provide medical treatment for every medical condition.

By sheer chance, you are contacted by another prisoner in another state who has successfully sued for the treatment for the same condition. She offers to help you and sends you legal documents. The mail room supervisor confiscates and destroys them, claiming that the prison mail room policy KSP 16.2, disallows this, when it clearly DOES allow it! At this point things become very scary as those charged with protecting you are slowly killing you. The condition you suffer from is very rare, so people are reluctant to accept it as real, and there is a fair amount of bigotry attendant to such beliefs.

Now imagine that your insistence on receiving treatment has caused you to be placed in isolation, where your already fragile mental state deteriorates further. You've been denied treatment, legal help, and have been locked in isolation because you have an internationally recognized medical condition that caused you to be born with the brain of a woman. Recent research has demonstrated that male to female transsexuals have a female brain structure and that they are born like this. A genetic anomaly that has caused you to be born with the brain of a woman, and the genitals of a man. To add insult to injury, you are punished for trying to adopt a feminine appearance and as part of your punishment, your head is forcibly shaved!

In total desperation, you try to remove the source of male hormones that have masculinized your female self. Your jailers take you to a hospital, have you repaired, and give you isolation time as further punishment for trying to perform surgery on yourself that has otherwise been denied to you for 17 years. You have no hope left, and your next move,according to experts in GID, is suicide.

This is the life of my sister Shelly Leann Wright 102077, who has five more years to look forward to at the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville, KY., PO Box 5128, 42038.
The Kentucky chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union could not be bothered to help shelly, nor even respond to our inquires for help, or return documents sent to them. Is there anyone out there that can help me save Shelly's life?


POETRY CORNER
We will be publishing a limited amount of poetry in each newsletter and look forward to receiving submissions for this. Quality will be the deciding factor.
All material submitted must be original, and certified as such on each page of your poetry. By certified, we mean that you must write on each page or your poetry that you are certifying that the material is your own original work.
You should try to make your poetry about your gender identity disorder and how it has affected you personally & how it interfaces with your prison environment.


TRANSSEXUALISM AND INCARCERATION
People who walk between the traditional boundaries of sex and gender face significant challenges while incarcerated. These individuals - transsexuals - are those for whom biological sex and gender identification are not always congruent.

Prison systems in this country generally have a small number of transsexual prisoners, but it is disproportionately high when compared to the general population. For example, the Wisconsin DOC has 8 known transsexuals incarcerated, with 5 more labeled as having gender dysphoria.
Gender dysphoria which lasts more than two years is classified as transsexualism, or by the newer term, gender identity disorder. That is extremely high considering that Wisconsin DOC has less than 30,000 prisoners, and transsexualism occurs at a rate of about 1 in 30,000 biological males.

TS prisoners are frequently at very high risk of sexual assault in certain prison systems in this country, where they are often set up to be sexually assaulted. Sometimes those assaults are committed by the very people who should be preventing them.

TS prisoners who are treated as males in their prison system are at particularly high risk of self injurious behaviors, such as suicide attempts and genital mutilations and castration attempts. This self harm is generally linked to extremely abusive treatment of the inmate secondary to that inmates transsexualism. ie: being forcibly treated as a male. In many cases this means that staff purposely and with exaggerated emphasis, address TS inmates as males, with a male name.

It means conducting offensive strip searches on TS inmates in which 6 or 8 male guards are present to watch, for no legitimate reason.
MTF's experience strip searches conducted by male guards as sexual assaults, just like most females would. And while TS inmates have all complained about this in their various prison systems, their pleas not to be victimized in this way are ignored. And male prison officials and guards fight

very hard to ensure that they can continue to do this to us.
Forcibly treating TS prisoners as males worsens any other existing clinical pathology in these individuals and Can result in additional mental illnesses developing.
It means refusing to allow TS inmates to feminize their appearance in any way, and denying TS inmates hormone therapy if they did not enter the prison system on such therapy. In some prison systems, TS prisoners are not even allowed hormone therapy if they enter the prison system on such therapy.

They are forced to go through withdrawal of their female hormones and face potentially life threatening medical conditions as a result of having their hormone therapy discontinued, especially if they have been on such therapy for a significant amount of time. Discontinuation of hormone therapy puts TS prisoners at high risk for self-mutilating behaviors and suicide.
At the very least, MTF TS prisoners with gender identity disorder need some female hormone therapy, strip searches to be performed by female staff in such cases where the individual has already been fully developed into a female physically through hormone therapy, be allowed a one time name change to a female name, be addressed as a female and with female pronouns, be showered separate from male inmates without being sexualized or put on display, and some female clothing and makeup to help consolidate a female identity.

The above would cost very little for state prison systems, but very few of them provide any of this to TS prisoners. Which results in TS prisoners suing prison systems and creating costly litigation that costs taxpayers many thousands of times more than the originally requested treatment would have cost. But thats what happens when prisons are allowed to be run in secrecy without any public oversight and a belief that they can treat prisoners however they please with no repercussions.

If you are a TS prisoner and are or have been trying to obtain treatment for your gender identity disorder, which is a recognized medical condition, and are not receiving it, make copies of your requests, symptoms, how you are feeling as a result of a failure to provide that treatment to you, file a grievance and exhaust all of your administrative remedies exactly as the prisoner litigation reform act and your prison grievance procedures require, and pursue legal action.

Courts are now more open than ever to lawsuits filed by TS prisoners who are not receiving treatment for their medical condition. Attorneys are being appointed to represent TS prisoners in such litigation, but you must go through the initial steps on your own. When you do get an attorney, make CERTAIN that attorney networks with other attorneys who have been or are currently involved in similar litigation. This has been a very important strategy in our winning these types of lawsuits, and it is working. We are winning by networking with one another.
When you seek help from your sisters who have already won ahead of you, make sure you do what they ask you and provide the information that they ask you to provide. We are only going to win if we work together and help each other.

If you are a TS prisoner who is not receiving treatment or know of someone who is not, and you want help filing a lawsuit to get that treatment, you can contact the following individuals for some basic help on how to go through the initial steps that lead up to filing a lawsuit, beginning with requesting the actual medical care for your gender identity disorder, at the institution level.
DONNA DAWN KONITZER
PO BOX 220
WINNEBAGO Wl 54985-0220

MICHELLE LYNNE KOSILEK
PO BOX 43
NORFOLK MA 02056

MARK "JESSICA" BROOKS
#90A6426
PO BOX 618
AUBURN NY 13024

Never address any TS prisoner mail with a female name if there is a male name as part of the address on the envelope unless that TS prisoner tells you it is okay to do so. Some prison systems or individual prisons will refuse mail if it is addressed with a female name.
If you are in a state which does not allow correspondence between prisoners, make sure that you make that known to others so that they do not waste their time and money sending you legal information, perhaps photocopies in the mail directly only to have it returned to them. Be responsible in your requests for help and provide all the necessary information requested.

A Wild Elegance will be printing limited pen pal ads. This is a support publication for those who have made the choice to stop hiding their condition from themselves and others.
Your ad will not be printed unless your address includes your institution number and the name of your prison. No exceptions. Your ad will be a basic listing of your address with a brief ten word sentence underneath it. No smut no soliciting. All ads are subject to my arbitrary approval, and must include your complete name and address and prison number. Ads without a prisoner ID number and name of prison will be discarded.

All ads must include whether or not you can be addressed in your female name on the envelope, or not. This publication is not for curious male prisoners who do not have GID. In the body of the letter itself, you will be addressed by your female name. If you chose not to provide your female name you will be assumed not to have one and will not be listed or placed on our mailing list. Some prisons allow TS inmates to have their ( true ) female name as part of their address on the envelope and others do not. Make very certain that you specify in your correspondence to us which is true for your particular situation, or whether you have had a legal name change and are therefore not required to use a male name at all.Don't waste other people's time. If you are not serious and genuinely interested in getting medical care for your GID, don't request help in that area, just out of curiosity, to see how much work might be involved.

Back to wild Elegance, Post One

On to post four

A Wild Elegance , issue one, post four

included here:
editor's note,
Poetry Page,
News brief,
secret phrase
Specific langusge to Obtain Appointment of Councel.

Editors Note

A Wild Elegance is seeking contributing writers for this newsletter. If you have an article, story or personal experience to share and like to write, send it to us. We will probably publish it.
Don't worry too much about spelling and punctuation. We'll take care of that.

Any correspondence to A Wild Elegance should be addressed directly to : Donna Dawn Konitzer, PO Box 220, Winnebago Wl., 54985-0220. DO NOT include " A Wild Elegance " or anything else in the address or you will not receive a reply. Address envelope only as indicated.

SECRET PHRASE
CAN YOU FIGURE OUT WHAT IT MEANS?
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"


POETRY PAGE
BY DAWNS EARLY LIGHT
Poetry By Donna Dawn Konitzer

By dawns early light,
THEY fight the good fight.
all the while
exclaiming how
THEY are in the right.

By dawns early light,
the death toll knells-
eerily...
as the body count rises.
By dawns early light,
missiles of destruction,
scream across the horizon,
past the speed of sound
bullet nosed sheet steel
shielding the terror within.

By dawns early light
THEY wage the good fight,
doing what THEY feel THEY must,
what THEY claim is just.
Killing and maiming and destroying
innocent people
In their lust for world domination
and power.

The incubus of the new imperium.

By dawns early light,
the youthful fist of power,
strikes a mighty blow to the
nose of freedom
the struggle of others seeking the same
dream, as once we did,
they fight to be free of tyranny
in the only way they can.

Just as we once did,
by dawns early light.

How quickly history can be forgotten
in the dimness...

of dawns early light and
how ludicrous it is that the once terrorists
now claim to be
the virtuous.

NEWS BRIEFS

On January 31, 2006, Governor Gregoire of Washington State singed into a law a bill which prohibits acts of prejudice against gay, lesbian, bi, AND transgender people. Washington becomes only the eighth state to include gender identity in its non-discrimination law, and the seventeenth state to include sexual orientation. As one might expect, the right wing are already planning a ballot initiative in an attempt to repeal the law.

On April 19, 2006, Bloomington, Indiana, became the second city in Indiana to provide gender identity protections. Bloomington has decided that it will provide civil rights protections based on gender identity. This means that the Bloomington city code will treat gender identity as a category protected against discrimination, just like race, religion, disability, sex, and sexual orientation. The Bloomington City Council vote was preceded by two years of broad community advocacy. The April 19 vote provides for voluntary mediation to address complaints of gender identity discrimination. The ordinance also allows the Bloomington Human Rights Commission to pursue gender identity complaints selectively as sex discrimination complaints, with the power to enforce compliance.

On February 8, 2006, The New York City Department of homeless services issued a trans affirmative housing policy. Gender identity will determine shelter placement for transgender new yorkers. The new york city dept of homeless services ended discriminatory practices toward transgender clients at its homeless shelters with the release of a new policy. Advocates from the GLBT community center and others participated in the activism that lead to these changes, which guides intake, assessment, and shelter staff to ensure that gender identity is taken into consideration when making intake assignments.


Specific Language to obtain appointment of counsel

In Konitzer V. Bartow, the plaintiff ( Konitzer ) filed a motion for appointment of counsel to represent her in her lawsuit seeking proper care for her gender identity disorder. The court ruled in the following exact language.

" Although civil litigants do not have a constitutional right or a statutory right to counsel, this court has the discretion to request attorneys to represent indigents in appropriate cases pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1915 (e) (1). Lutrell v. Nickel, 129 F3d. 933, 936 (7th circuit 1997) ( citing Zarnes V. Rhodes, 64 F3d. 285, 288 ( 7th circuit 1995). As a threshold matter, litigants must make a reasonable attempt to secure private counsel on their own. Zarnes, 64 F3d @ 288. Once this threshold burden has been met, the court must address the following question: given the difficulty of the case, does this plaintiff appear to be competent to try the case and, if not, would the presence of counsel likely make a difference in the outcome of the case. Id. (citing Farmer v. Haas, 990 F2d 319, 322 (7th Circuit 1993)).

The plaintiff has provided evidence that attempts to obtain legal counsel have been unsuccessful. Although the plaintiff appears more than capable than the average prisoner litigating pro se, this case presents complicated and novel medical issues and appears to require expert medical testimony. See Zarnes, 64 F3d @ 289 ( " We often find counsel necessary when a case involves complex medical evidence."). Accordingly, the court finds that fundamental due process may be denied if an attorney is not asked to represent the plaintiff. Therefore, the plaintiffs motion for the appointment of counsel will be granted. "


It is the soul of the true warrior to struggle so that others may claim the prize.

Back to wild Elegance, Post One

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