BOISE, Idaho (AP) – An Idaho inmate who castrated herself after prison officials refused to give her female hormone therapy may have lied about her lifestyle before imprisonment, but the state still must give her estrogen, a federal judge has ruled.

Jenniffer Spencer, who was born biologically male but identifies as a woman, sued the Idaho Department of Correction and its physicians, claiming that her constitutional rights were violated and that she was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment when prison doctors failed to diagnose gender identity disorder and treat her with female hormones. Spencer legally changed her name from Randall Gammett while in prison.

Spencer sued the state in federal court, and in July U.S. District Judge Mikel Williams ordered the Idaho Department of Corrections to provide Spencer with estrogen until the matter went to trial. But the state asked the judge to reconsider, saying that new evidence showed Spencer lied about living as a woman before her incarceration and about taking female hormones before going to prison.

In an order handed down Friday, however, Williams said those issues could be dealt with at trial – and that, for now, the state must give Spencer estrogen.

“The main theme set forth in the ‘new’ evidence submitted by defendants is that plaintiff’s self-reported history of attempting to live like a female cannot be substantiated,” Williams wrote. “For example, plaintiff’s claims of taking birth control pills was refuted by the woman who allegedly gave them to plaintiff. In addition, plaintiff had alleged that he portrayed himself as a woman while living with another person. This person has now denied that these events occurred.”

Nevertheless, Williams said, that evidence does not change the fact that untreated gender identity disorder is “a life-threatening mental health condition” since Spencer has already engaged in self-mutilation and suicide attempts after repeatedly requesting treatment for GID.