The TRANS CON *
* Or why convicted prisoners are up in arms about special treatment for transgender cellmates including... Being searched by men AND women Being allowed to customise uniforms Given option of showering alone . . . and chance to move to female jail
‘The system can’t stop bandwagon jumpers’
TRANSGENDER convicts can dictate how they are searched and addressed by prison officers under extraordinary privileges laid out in official guidance uncovered by The Mail on Sunday.
The special treatment has angered other inmates, who say some are changing gender just so that they can enjoy the advantages.
Transgender prisoners also have greater freedom i n how t hey dress, have access to make-up and wigs, and can shower and wash their clothes in private.
The new rules came into force a year ago following a rapid rise in the number of transgender inmates and concern about their treatment.
Latest figures show there were 125 transgender prisoners in England and Wales at the end of March 2017, up from 70 a year earlier. At least four have died in custody.
The new rules state that prison staff must ‘communicate in ways that respect the gender’ prisoners identify with, including the name and pronoun they prefer. They are also entitled to choose their hair styles, make-up and clothing.
Acknowledging this may cause resentment, the guidance adds: ‘It may be helpful to explain this to other prisoners who are required to wear prison uniform.’
Prison officers cannot ask to see a Gender Recognition Certificate – a legally recognised form – and governors must ask consent if they want to tell staff what an inmate’s gender was at birth.
Transgender prisoners, who can already choose whether they serve time in a male or female jail, will also have to be asked ‘their view of the searching procedures’.
According to a book by transgender prisoner Sarah Jane Baker, this means that men who are transitioning to women will have different parts of their bodies searched by male and female guards.
‘ Pre- op, trans- women [ male to female] will, by consent, have the top half of their bodies searched by two female officers. The lower half will be searched by two male officers,’ she wrote in Transgender: Behind Prison Walls.
Under the revised rules, transgender inmates are assured they ‘will be given as much privacy as possible’ by having set times when they can use showers by them- selves. But those who ‘change gender regularly’ are told staff must take pictures of them in both their ‘male and female roles’. And they may not be allowed wigs because they ‘present an escape risk’.
Prison staff are also warned to watch out for male prisoners falsely claiming to be transgender so they can be sent to women’s jails.
Meanwhile a transgender advisory board is being set up to consider introducing a gender-neutral uniform for all offenders.
Letters sent to prisoners’ newspaper Inside Time reveal the suspicion and resentment of many other inmates.
A convict at Northumberland jail wrote: ‘Transgender prisoners get to shower in private, while other prisoners, gay or straight, have to shower together in one big open room. Is this fair?
‘T rans gender prisoners are allowed to put signs on their cell doors asking staff to knock before entering or looking through the observation hatch.
‘ Why can’t male prisoners be afforded the same courtesy?’
Another wrote: ‘The sickest part is that the system can do sod all about these trans bandwagon jumpers, because the policy states they must be treated as transgender prisoners “if they say they are”.’
The Ministry of Justice said: ‘There are stringent procedures in place to ensure transgender prisoners are managed safely and in accordance with the law. We have robust safeguards in place to ensure that the system is not abused.’