- Jonathan Richardson, also known as Autumn Cordellionè, is serving a 55-year sentence for strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death.
- Richardson has filed a lawsuit against the chaplain at the Branchville Correctional Facility in Indiana after he allegedly prevented the inmate from wearing a hijab.
- Richardson is also suing the state of Indiana for refusing to pay for her gender affirmation surgery.
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A transgender prisoner, serving a 55-year sentence for strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death, is suing a prison chaplain for allegedly banning them from wearing hijab.
Jonathan Richardson, who also goes by the name Autumn Cordellionè, filed a civil lawsuit against the chaplain at the Branchville Correctional Facility in Indiana after he allegedly prevented the inmate from wearing a hijab outside her cell, despite identifying as a Muslim woman.
Richardson is seeking $150,000 in damages and the ability to wear the hijab “wherever she goes within the facility.”
‘I informed him that I use the hajib [sic] to cover my head and ears for modesty reasons, as I am a practicing Islamic trans woman,” Richardson explained in the lawsuit filed Nov. 30.
According to the lawsuit, the chaplain stated that Richardson’s listed religious preference was ‘Wiccan,’ an Earth-centered pagan religion with a male god and a moon goddess, not Islam.
Jonathan Richardson, also known as Autumn Cordellionè, is serving a 55-year sentence for strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death.
Richardson has filed a lawsuit against the chaplain at the Branchville Correctional Facility in Indiana after he allegedly prevented the inmate from wearing a hijab.
“I responded that I am an eclectic practitioner and a member of the Theosophical Society of America,” Richardson alleged in the complaint.
“Male Islamic practitioners are permitted to wear their kufis throughout the facility, and are not restricted to their bedding areas only,” according to the complaint, which alleges Richardson’s 14th Amendment rights were violated.
Richardson also alleges that his Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment were also violated, as he was subjected to “harassment and ridicule” by other Muslim prisoners.
The chaplain must be aware of the ‘stigma and shame that is attributed to Islamic women when they go uncovered and without hijab’ [sic]”, reads the complaint.
‘Women are seen as whores, temptresses of men and adulteresses; by Islamic society both inside and outside of prison.
Adding: “I have been rejected, I have been made a social outcast and among my own religious community.”
Richardson is also suing the state of Indiana for refusing to pay for her gender affirmation surgery.
The lawsuit comes after a new law passed during the 2023 legislative session, which prohibits the Indiana Department of Corrections from providing gender-affirming medical care to incarcerated transgender people.
The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the state of Indiana for refusing to spend taxpayer money on a sex change for a transgender inmate.
A protester holds the ACLU sign “Trans People Belong”
Richardson, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, argues that reassignment surgery “is a medical necessity.”
In Minnesota, a transgender inmate recently won her case against the DOC and was awarded $495,000 for sex reassignment surgery and was later transferred to a women’s facility.
Richardson was convicted of killing his 11-month-old stepdaughter by strangling her to death in September 2001.
Richardson was caring for his stepdaughter while the victim’s mother was out for the day.
The killer initially told police he found the victim in a crib and vomit was coming out of his mouth. Richardson later admitted that she was restless and that he had tried to calm her down.
It was determined that the little girl died from manual strangulation.
While behind bars, Richardson told a correctional officer, “Well, all I know is that I killed the little bitch.”
In 2002, Richardson was sentenced to 55 years in prison.