Transgender prisoners convicted of violence banned from women’s jails
MoJ acts to bring hardcore gender-swap convicts in line with exclusion policy that exists for sex offenders
TRANSGENDER women convicted of violence will be barred from female prisons under new rules to be introduced tomorrow.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is toughening its stance so not only transgender women convicted of sexual assaults, but also those jailed for violence, will no longer be held in mainstream women’s prisons.
The new exclusion from women’s prisons will also cover all transgender women with male genitalia and apply regardless of whether the prisoner has a gender recognition certificate.
The MoJ said yesterday that exemptions would only be made in the most exceptional cases and would also have to be signed off by ministers.
The violent offences covered by the new rules will include murder, attempted murder, harming a child, assault with intent to cause serious harm or with injury, endangering life, and harassment.
The measures follow the controversy in Scotland over the decision to send Isla Bryson, a transgender woman found guilty of raping two women before transitioning, to the all-female Cornton Vale prison.
The Scottish Government reversed the move after an outcry and has launched a review of its rules.
Dominic Raab, the Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, said: “Safety has to come first in our prisons and this new policy sets out a clear, common-sense approach to the housing of transgender prisoners.
“With these sensible new measures in place, transgender offenders who have committed sexual or violent crimes or retain male genitalia will not serve their sentence in a women’s prison, unless explicitly approved at the highest level.”
There are around 230 transgender people in prison of whom more than 90 per cent are transgender women who are housed in men’s prisons. Most have never requested a move to female jails.
Under current rules, there is no obligation to place a transgender prisoner according to their preference and where they are held is based purely on risk factors assessed by prison chiefs and psychologists.
According to MoJ statistics for March 2022, 187 transgender people reported their legal gender as male, and 43 as female.
Of these, 181 were in male prisons and 49 were in female jails. Six transgender women were in women’s prisons.
The MoJ’s approach differs from Scotland’s. In England and Wales, transgender women can only be held in a female jail if a risk assessment by a Complex Case Board (CCB) says it is safe to do so.
In Scotland, there is currently a presumption they will be held according to self-declared gender identity unless there are concerns about risk.
Five of the 11 transgender women in Scottish prisons are held in female jails.
After the controversy over Bryson, the Scottish Government suspended any moves to the women’s estate of transgender women convicted of violent or sexual offences pending the formulation of a new policy.
The tougher rules south of the border followed a scandal when a transgender inmate sexually assaulted fellow prisoners after transferring to a women’s prison in 2018.
Karen White, a transgender woman, was on remand for multiple rapes and other sexual offences against women when transferred to New Hall prison, near Wakefield.
It emerged that after transferring to the female prison, she was accused of four sexual assaults against other inmates between September and November last year, before being moved to a men’s prison.
Freedom of information requests subsequently disclosed that seven of the 97 sexual assaults in female jails between 2016 and 2019 involved transgender prisoners, of which six were born men and identified as women.