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Campaigners have branded new Scottish transgender prison rules “sexist” as they warn they could lead to vulnerable women being traumatised.
In the wake of the Isla Bryson scandal, groups claim the new guidelines are worse than the policy they replaced.
Plans set to be enforced by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) will mean trans criminals with a history of violence against women can be housed in female jails if there is “compelling” evidence they do not pose “an unacceptable risk of harm.”
Those deemed too dangerous to be placed in female jails permanently could still be offered the opportunity to mix with female inmates temporarily to “support their gender identity.”
Campaigners have branded new Scottish transgender prison rules ‘sexist’ as they warn they could lead to vulnerable women being traumatisedPACampaign groups and academics claim the rules are based on sexism and misogyny as they disregard the rights and safety of women.
The new regulations contrast those in England where trans women with male genitalia cannot be held in women’s prisons.
“The SPS has succeeded in producing guidelines for managing transgender prisoners which are more opaque than the original,” Lisa Mackenzie, of policy analysis group Murray Blackburn Mackenzie (MBM) told The Telegraph.
“The review process has the thinnest veneer of meaningful consultation and yet concerns about the impact on female prisoners and female prison officers are acknowledged, only to be swiftly dismissed as being less important than the demands of trans identified male prisoners.
“The SPS believes there is an acceptable level of harm that should be borne by female prisoners. This is nothing less than institutionalised misogyny.”
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It comes after transgender woman Isla Bryson – previously known as Adam Graham – was sent to Scotland’s only women’s jail in 2023 after being convicted of two counts of rape.
The decision was made under the old SPS policy which was based on the principle of gender self-identification.
Bryson was later moved to a male jail following uproar while former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon refused to say whether she considered the inmate male or female.
Tougher policies came into play after the backlash but remained temporary.
MBM has suggested that SNP ministers and their officials had been closely involved in shaping the new rules, according to minutes released under Freedom of Information legislation.
Isla Bryson was later moved to a male jail following uproar while former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon refused to say whether she considered the inmate male or female
PA
Kate Coleman, director of the Keep Prisons Single Sex campaign group said: “This blatantly and unashamedly sees female prisoners as providing a service of ‘validation’ or as objects to be studied and emulated in order that these male prisoners might have the chance to ‘practice’ being women prior to release.”
A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: “Our new policy supports the health, safety, and wellbeing of all people living and working in Scotland’s prisons, by taking an individualised approach to the admission, placement, and management of transgender people.
“We will carefully consider a range of factors, including offending history, with a particular focus on violence against women and girls, when assessing risk. No transgender women, with a history of violence against women and girls, who presents a risk to women, will be placed in the female estate.
“The policy has been developed by SPS following extensive engagement including input from expert in violence against women, various interviews with men and women in custody, those that are transgender and those who are not.”
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