Figures obtained in a Freedom of Information request show that half of Scottish transgender prisoners turn out to be women only after being in prison.
There are 16 transgender inmates in Scottish prisons, eight of whom have begun the transition while “remand for current offenses or being held on conviction,” Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said. ) was confirmed in a Freedom of Information Request (FOI). The Epoch Times saw.
The SPS added that six trans prisoners had “current or previous” convictions for sex crimes. The men’s compound has an undisclosed transgender prisoner who is being considered for transfer to the women’s compound.
FOI asked if there had been complaints from female prisoners of inappropriate behavior or sexual assaults against transgender prisoners since the introduction of the SPS Transgender Policy in 2014.
SPS has confirmed 6,758 complaints from women since 2014.
Gender-specific regulations
Kate Coleman runs Keep Prisons Single Sex, an organization founded in 2020 that campaigns for the right of female prisoners to be offered an alternate gender.
Coleman said that women in prison were often victims of much more serious crimes than they were accused of committing, and that if they had to share accommodations with male prisoners, they would be terrified and anxious. It emphasizes suffering.
“All male prisoners will, objectively, be comfortable on the female premises,” Coleman told the Epoch Times in an email.
“If the Scottish Prison Service created the possibility that male prisoners would be assigned to female camps based on their self-identification as women, it would be absurd to expect male prisoners not to take advantage of this,” she said. added.
Since 2014, the SPS Gender Identity and Transsexual Policy (pdf) allowed prisoners to be held on the basis of their self-declared gender identity. For example, persons in custody must be massaged by staff according to “the social gender in which they live.”
I am concerned about upcoming legislation in Scotland that would allow individuals to change the gender recorded on their birth certificate simply by making a statutory declaration.
The Gender Identity Reform Bill, currently under discussion, is meant to eliminate the need for a gender dysphoria diagnosis and help people more quickly change their legal gender as recorded on their birth certificates and other documents. increase.
The length of time an applicant must live in their adopted gender will be reduced from two years to three months, and the medical diagnosis and evidence requirement will be removed.
“system abuse”
Former SNP Attorney General Kenny MacAskill now alba party, told the Scottish Daily Express On Tuesday, he said it was “extremely worrying” and that many men who chose to become transgender after their convictions suggested “abuse of the system and a threat to vulnerable women.”
“Statistics are anecdotal that some male inmates choose to self-identify as female not out of desire to be transgender, but to avoid being imprisoned on male property. We have strong evidence,” he said.
“This is an abuse of the system and a threat to vulnerable women. It is one thing to protect the rights of transgender inmates and one another to facilitate a very harmful fraudulent practice. Current SPS Policy appears to be failing and this abuse and fraud must end,” added MacAskill.
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Owen Evans is a UK-based journalist with a particular interest in civil liberties and free speech, covering stories from a wide variety of countries.