Fears over transgender rapists in female jails

PRISON governors warned last night that transferring sex offenders who are born male but believe they are female into women’s jails could lead to vulnerable inmates being attacked.

The jail chiefs spoke out following Theresa May’s pledge last year to make it simpler to change gender, and to ‘streamline and demedicalise’ the process.

Transgender activists are demanding a change in the law so that anyone can do this simply by announcing they ‘self-identify’ as a member of the opposite sex.

But one governor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: ‘My fear is that this could make it much harder to control the transfer of born-male, transgender prisoners to women’s prisons.

‘This could lead to vulnerable women being intimidated – and even attacked.’

The warning came as Westminster’s Ministry of Justice confirmed that dozens of ‘trans-identified male’ prisoners are living as women in English jails exclusively housing convicted sex offenders.

The figures, which emerged in new Freedom of Information Act disclosures, show:

At least 34 male-born inmates are living as women in four specialist sex offender jails for men – Littlehey, Isle of Wight, Whatton and Stafford;

A further ten prisoners may be housed at sex offender prisons Bure, Rye Hill and Ashfield;

Governors of sex offender prisons say ‘all or most’ of their transgender inmates are seeking to move to women’s jails;

In at least one prison, this group includes a prisoner convicted of multiple, separate rapes.

Andrea Albutt, of the Prison Governors Association, who has run men’s and women’s jails, said: ‘I have seen women feeling very threatened by transgender prisoners’ presence. Women prisoners are very vulnerable.’