Transgender prisoners not allowed in women’s prisons

The new rules, which will come into force on Monday, will prevent transgender women who have committed violent crimes from being placed in women’s prisons.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is taking a tougher approach, which means not only will transgender women guilty of sexual harassment be banned from traditional women’s prisons, but also those convicted of violent crimes.

Murder, attempted murder, child abuse, assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm or grievous bodily harm, endangering life, and harassment are considered violent crimes.

Regardless of whether convicted transgender people receive a gender recognition certificate, the new rules will still apply to all transgender women with male genitalia.

According to the Justice Ministry, exemptions will only be granted in rare cases and also require ministry approval.

The action comes in response to protests in Scotland over the decision to transfer transgender offender Isla Bryson, who was convicted of raping two women before crossing, to Cornton Vale Women’s Prison.

After public outrage, the Scottish government reversed course and began to revise its rules.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Dominic Raab said: “Our new policy sets out a clear, common sense approach to housing transgender prisoners. Safety must come first in our institutions.

With these logical new rules in place, transgender prisoners who have committed violent or sexual crimes, or who still possess male genitalia, will not serve their sentences in women’s institutions unless specifically authorized to do so at the highest level.

Keep Prisons SingleSex campaign director Dr. Kate Coleman told The Telegraph that the Justice Department’s new approach to trans prisoners “represents a significant shift.” It depicts the real risk that female prisoners face when male criminals are with them.

“I hope we see comparable changes across the entire criminal justice system. This is a good start in the right direction.”

Over 230 transgender people are incarcerated and over 90% of them are transgender women in men’s prisons. Most people never asked to be transferred to women’s prisons.

Now a transgender prisoner does not have to be placed in the premises of the gender that he has chosen. Where they are kept depends solely on the degree of danger determined by psychologists and the prison administration.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Justice, in March 2022, 187 transgender people reported that their legal gender was male, while 43 indicated that it was female. Of these, 181 were held in prisons for men and 49 in prisons for women. There were six transgender inmates in the women’s prisons.

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Scotland and England take very different approaches

Scotland follows a different strategy than the DOJ. In England and Wales, transgender women may only be held in a women’s prison if a risk assessment by the Board of Complicated Cases deems it appropriate. In Scotland, if there are no concerns about risk, people are expected to be treated according to their self-declared gender identity.

Five out of eleven transgender prisoners in Scottish prisons – or 45% – are women. Following the Isla Byron scandal, the Scottish government stopped any transfers of transgender women convicted of violent or sexual offenses to their estates while a new policy was in place.

The tweet below confirms the news:

Transgender women convicted of violence are being kept out of women’s prisons under new rules to be introduced on Monday.

— Telegraph (@Telegraph) February 26, 2023

Stricter rules south of the border are being introduced in response to a crisis in which a transgender inmate transferred to a women’s prison in 2018 sexually assaulted other inmates. Transgender woman Karen White was taken to New Hall Prison near Wakefield, where she was held for multiple rapes and other sexual offenses against women.

Then it became known that she was accused of four sexual harassment of other prisoners between September and November last year after she was sent to a women’s prison and then transferred to a men’s prison.

According to FOI requests, seven of the 97 sexual assaults committed in women’s prisons between 2016 and 2019 were committed by transgender inmates, of which six were men who self-identified as women.

If a male prison is not a safe place to hold transgender female prisoners, they may be held in a specialized ward.

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