Medical Treatment for Imprisoned Paraphiliacs: Implementing a Modified Standard for Deliberate Indifference

Abstract

In July, 1984, John Doe, an inmate in a Connecticut prison, filed a habeas corpus petition alleging that the prison system had denied him adequate and necessary medical treatment. Such petitions are not unusual; what distinguished Doe's was the nature of his claimed disease and the treatment he sought. Doe, incarcerated for a sex offense, claimed to be suffering from a psychosexual disorder called paraphilia and sought treatment involving both psychiatric counseling and the administration of a hormone, medroxyprogesterone acetate, better known as Depo-provera.