A Virginia prison inmate born a male but surgically altered to be female because of severe birth defects has filed suit against state officials.
Though convicted of 11 felonies as a male and imprisoned in the all-male Deerfield Correctional Center, the state birth certificate for Deena Kaye Myers, also known as Scott Myers, says she is female.
Among other things, Myers' suit complains that she is being held in an all-male dormitory, that the department has refused to transfer her to a female prison, and that her rights under the Constitution and the American Disabilities Act have been violated.
The suit filed this month asks for $25 million in damages and that prison authorities change her records to show that she is female and that she be transferred to a female facility.
Myers' suit alleges officials told her she would not be transferred to a female prison because she was sent to prison as a male when sentenced. Myers was sentenced starting in 2001 for robbery, auto theft and other crimes in Danville and Pittsylvania County.
Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said the department does not comment on pending litigation.
Myers was born Christmas Eve 1981 with a birth defect so severe that males with the condition were often surgically altered to females. Myers was sent from Danville Memorial Hospital to Duke University Medical Center for a series of neonatal operations.
On Feb. 18, 1982, a Virginia birth certificate was filed recording Myers' sex as female.
Myers filed the suit on her own behalf and is asking the court to appoint a lawyer to represent her.
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