Murderer to have gender swap surgery on the NHS
A TRANSGENDER convict serving life for murder is to have £20,000 gender reassignment surgery on the NHS.
Described by prison officers as a security nightmare, Paris Green, 27, will be escorted from a maximum-security prison in Scotland to a hospital in Brighton. The 500-mile trip will be followed by the operation, a two-week recovery period and a return to jail.
The whole process will take place under 24-hour guard, costing the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds, with a potential extra £60,000 for further surgery if recommended.
Green was found guilty of murder and jailed for life in 2013. With two accomplices, she tortured, sexually assaulted and beat a man to death. Since being incarcerated, Green from Glenrothes, Fife, has been removed from a women’s prison for sexually assaulting other inmates. She began her sentence in Cornton Vale women’s prison in Stirling, but was moved to a women’s wing at HMP Edinburgh. She has identified as a woman since 2011.
Officers are said to be unhappy about the procedure, saying it is not life-saving nor vital and sends the wrong message to victims of crime. An officer said: “You can murder someone but in prison you’re entitled to everything you ask for, no matter the burden you put on a stretched system, as it might breach human rights. What about the rights of the victim and his family?”
But James Morton, manager of Scottish Trans Alliance, said: “The principle that prisoners should receive the same standard of NHS care as the rest of society is legally established in the UK. We believe the claims are being exaggerated for controversy.”
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: “If a request is made by the NHS for surgery for a prisoner, we would not and could not stand in the way.”
♦ Peter Clarke, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, has criticised HMP Manchester for failing to speedily supply a transgender inmate with clothes to dress as a woman in the men’s jail.