New measures coming into force today will mean that Transgender women with male genitalia will no longer be able to be held in mainstream women’s prisons.
The Deputy Prime Minister has also announced measures will extend these rules to cover transgender women without male genitalia who have been convicted of violent offences.
The new guidance will apply regardless of whether transgender prisoners have a Gender Recognition Certificate, with exemptions only to be made in the most exceptional cases – and with the express approval of Ministers.
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.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab
Trans Prisoners
Under the changes, transgender women who are sentenced to custody in the future will not be held in the general women’s estate if they retain male genitalia or have been convicted of a violent or sexual offence – unless in the most exceptional cases. Exemptions will be considered for those currently held in the women’s estate who are assessed as low-risk.
At present more than 90% of transgender women are housed in men’s prisons and most do not request a move to the women’s estate. There is currently no obligation to place a transgender prisoner according to their preference, and where individuals are held is based purely on risk.
Transgender women prisoners who cannot be safely housed in a men’s prison can be imprisoned in a specialist unit.
Final thought
The numbers of trans people in the prison estate that corresponds with their gender identity is very small, and based on the case board approach, where risks to all parties are assessed, these are extremely unlikely to be violent or sexual offenders. As such, this seems like a solution to a non-problem.
Given the place of the Conservatives in the polls however, these new rules serve politicians very well and the trans community very poorly. Currently, trans prisoners are housed on the basis of risk, reviewed by experts who are not Government Ministers. These rule changes have clearly been triggered by the case of Isla Bryson in Scotland which garnered a lot of attention and allowed the Government to look “anti-woke”, an internet meme that seems to be taking hold in the minds of much of the British public.
A Gender Recognition Certificate, far from being a passport to women’s prisons means very little for convicted prisoners. When housing trans prisoners experts within the system weigh the safety of trans prisoners against the safety of those that they will be housed with to decide what is most appropriate. This process mirrors similar judgement the prisons service must make for all convicted prisoners and is well established.
Now the Government is carving out a special place for politicians to decide the housing of trans prisoners which means every case will be reviewed in the court of public opinion, giving the press an excuse to reprint the usual “both sides” trans talking points and the politicians to look tough and appeal to women’s rights whenever they are called on to make a decision.
Quite what qualifies a politician to make such a judgement has not been made clear. What is clear is that today many articles with headlines like “Violent trans women banned from female prisons in England and Wales under new rules” and “Trans violent offenders banned from women’s prisons in England and Wales” which will no doubt please Government Ministers but will shed little light on how to protect women in prison.
You can read our analysis on what is known about trans people in prisons here. Sadly, however these rules have little to do with protecting women, or trans people in prisons but everything to do with the feelings of those involved. Expect to hear a lot about this news, and learn very little.