Wagoner v. Winkelman, Commissioner, Alaska Department of Corrections

Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Alaska represent Emalee Wagoner, a transgender woman incarcerated at Goose Creek Correctional Center in the Alaska Department of Corrections (“DOC”). Ms. Wagoner filed her federal lawsuit pro se in September 2018 against the Commissioner of the Alaska DOC for violations under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution for inadequate health care. Ms. Wagoner represented herself throughout the case including cross-motions on summary judgment that the district court denied. In mid-2024, Lambda Legal joined her case.

After a week-long trial in May 2025, the federal district court found that gender-affirming surgery is medically necessary treatment for Ms. Wagoner’s gender dysphoria and that DOC had acted with deliberate indifference to her gender dysphoria in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The district court found DOC had refused to provide the necessary treatment to Ms. Wagoner despite her treating physician’s multiple clinical recommendations and clear evidence of her ongoing severe gender dysphoria. The district court also found that DOC effectively had a de facto ban on gender-affirming surgery. To remedy the harm to Ms. Wagoner and the constitutional violations, the district court entered a permanent injunction ordering DOC to provide adequate medical care including gender-affirming surgery to Ms. Wagoner enjoining DOC from enforcing its de facto ban on gender-affirming surgery.

Alaska DOC has appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Alaska represent Ms. Wagoner on the appeal to affirm the district court’s judgment.