KDOC mum on questions re: inmate’s sex change at taxpayer expense

Kansas taxpayers have apparently paid for the sex change surgery for a convicted murderer in state prison.

Thomas Lamb, 83 — now known as Michelle Renee Lamb — was readmitted to the Topeka Correctional Facility on Jan. 27, 2023, where Lamb is currently being held under Special Management in low to medium custody.

Lamb was convicted in 1970 on one count of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, and one count of robbery, as well as one count of aggravated escape from custody.

Lamb is serving three consecutive life sentences.

Lamb was also convicted in 1979 and 1987 for aggravated escape from custody.

The Sentinel asked officials at KDOC why an inmate who was convicted of murder in 1970 was given sex change surgery and the cost to taxpayers. We also asked when the procedure took place and whether any consideration was given to the mental health and safety of the female inmates — particularly given Lamb’s history of violence against women — with whom the inmate may be at some point housed.

The Sentinel also asked why someone with Lamb’s criminal history—and history of escape—is not being held at a higher security level and whether it is true that employees had their livelihoods threatened over “misgendering.”

As of publication, KDOC has not responded.

Lamb’s crimes allegedly related to funding sex change surgery

According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, more than 50 years ago, Lamb began this journey by kidnapping a young woman in an attempt to gain funds for sex change surgery.

“On Jan. 15, 1970, ex-convict Thomas P. Lamb used a gun to kidnap 18-year-old Patricia Childs from the parking lot of an Overland Park shopping mall,” the Cap-Journal reported in January 2020. “Lamb, 28, forced Childs to telephone her parents. He then demanded ransom money, allegedly to pay for a sex change operation, and told them not to call police.”

Childs’ father instead called the police.

“Officers staked out the area involved as Joseph Childs met with Lamb the next day in a parking lot near Olathe, where he exchanged the money for his daughter,” according to the story. “Then police moved in. Lamb led officers on a wild, high-speed vehicle chase, which ended when Lamb’s car struck a police car at a roadblock. Lamb was treated for injuries, then booked into the Johnson County Jail.”

However, at his home, police found a purse, garage door opener, and other property belonging to 24-year-old Karen Sue Kemmerle who had been found strangled to death a month before, her body found nude and covered in snow in a cornfield near Olathe.

Five days later, Lamb and another inmate — who had obtained a gun while working as a jail trustee — grabbed a jailer and three dispatchers, locking them in a cell.

Lamb and the inmate then kidnapped a customer from a nearby restaurant before being captured at a roadblock.

In June 1970, Lamb was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the murder of Kemmerle and the aggravated kidnappings of Patricia Childs and Kemmerle.

Lamb’s tendency to make a run for it was far from over, however.

“In 1979, Lamb escaped from Lansing Correctional Facility but was recaptured after leading police on a high-speed vehicle chase,” the Cap-Journal reported. “In 1987, Lamb escaped from Larned State Hospital, stole a car from its owner at knife-point, then again led police on a high-speed chase before being captured.”

Lamb will next be eligible for parole on Oct. 1, 2025.