State-funded electrolysis treatments halted for convicted murderer

BOSTON (AP) - A federal judge in Massachusetts says he won't order more hair-removal treatments for a transgender inmate who won a court order for taxpayer-funded sex-change surgery.

Judge Robert Wolf also ruled Tuesday that the gender reassignment surgery he ordered for Michelle Kosilek in September will be on hold until the state appeals his ruling.

Kosilek, convicted in the 1990 murder of wife Cheryl Kosilek, was born male but has received hormone treatments and now lives as a woman in an all-male prison.

Wolf said Tuesday that additional electrolysis for Michelle Kosilek would have to be part of a new case.

The state Department of Correction has said it discontinued electrolysis treatments after finding Kosilek had already received significant hair removal and her remaining hair could be removed by shaving or depilatories.