Transgender rapist assaulted inmates in women’s jail
THE Prison Service has apologised after a transgender inmate who had been charged with raping a woman was remanded into an all-female jail and went on to sexually assault four fellow inmates within days of arriving.
Convicted paedophile Karen White, who was born Stephen Wood, was undergoing gender reassignment but had not undergone full surgery when accused of repeatedly raping a woman in 2016. The 52-year-old, who as a man had been jailed previously for a sex attack on a child, told the authorities she identified as a woman, and was remanded into New Hall near Wakefield, West Yorks.
Within days of arriving at the women-only prison last September, she made a sexual advance to an inmate while in an aroused state, Leeds Crown Court was told. A fortnight later, she forced another inmate’s hand onto her left breast in order to feel her padded bra. Days later she was accused of pushing her hips and penis against another prisoner and in November last year she allegedly kissed a female inmate on the neck. After the inmates reported her, she was transferred to HMP Armley, an all-male prison in Leeds.
Under prison rules a convict must be put into a jail in accordance with their legally recognised gender. If an inmate identifies as a non-legally recognised gender, a case group assesses them but must take account of previous offences. That did not happen in White’s case.
Last night a prison service spokesman said: “We apologise sincerely. While we work to manage all prisoners, including those who are transgender, sensitively and in line with the law, the safety of all prisoners must be our absolute priority.”
Last month, White pleaded guilty to two rapes in 2016 and to indecently assaulting two New Hall prisoners. She denied two of the prison assaults and the cases were ordered to lay on file. She had said she could not be guilty of the prison attacks as she was not attracted to women and had erectile dysfunction.
Details can only be revealed now after White appeared in court to admit a historic rape dating back 15 years. She appeared in the dock with auburn hair tied in a ponytail.
Judge Christopher Batty adjourned sentencing until Oct 11, to assess reports on the danger that White posed.
She had been living under the name David Thompson before identifying as a woman and beginning to transition. She had been living as a woman when she carried out the 2016 rape, the court heard. Earlier, Leeds magistrates’ court had heard that White, as a male, had been convicted in 2001 for two offences of indecent assault and gross indecency with a child, for which he was jailed for 18 months.
The latest figures suggest there are 125 transgender prisoners in jails in England and Wales. Dr Nicola Williams, spokesman for the campaign group Fair Play for Women, criticised the risk assessment procedure. “It allowed a rapist, with a penis, into a women’s prison and women have been sexually assaulted,” she said.