Trans prisoners ‘will not be housed with other women’
TRANSGENDER prisoners with male genitalia will not serve time alongside female inmates without ministerial sign-off, Dominic Raab, the Justice Secretary, is expected to announce.
The policy will mean that ministers will have to approve any transfer of a male-bodied inmate to a women’s prison irrespective of whether they self-identify as a woman, while the Government will also have the power to order the removal of transgender prisoners from jails.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “While there have been no substantiated sexual assaults by transgender women in the female estate since 2019, the safety of all those in our care is a top priority.”
“Having reviewed the arrangements in July, the Justice Secretary directed changes so that transgender prisoners with male genitalia are not housed with other biologically born women in the female prison estate, unless specifically signed off by a minister.
“Once confirmed by the new Government in September, it would be implemented as soon as possible.”
The change in policy follows an incident last year involving a transgender prisoner serving time for murder at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, The Mail on
Sunday reported. The prisoner, who has male genitalia, was reportedly caught having consensual sex with another inmate after consuming illegally brewed alcohol.
Appropriately managing transgender individuals in the prison estate has become an increasingly high-profile issue in recent years, following a significant increase in the number of transgender prisoners.
Last November, the Telegraph reported that 197 prisoners serving sentences in England and Wales identified as transgender in 2021, a 21 per cent jump from 163 in 2019.
In a separate category are offenders who hold a gender recognition certificate, a document that legally recognises their change in gender.
Of the 197 prisoners who are living as the opposite gender in prison, but not legally recognised as such, the majority were male-bodied individuals identifying as women, the figures show.