Nicola Sturgeon, after expressing concern that a transgender rapist convicted of attacking two women is to be sent to a women’s prison to await sentencing, campaigner, It came under pressure from MPs and Downing Street.
Scottish Prime Minister at Holyrood Thursday It was confirmed Transgender prisoner Isla Bryson, who was convicted of raping two women, will not be imprisoned in Cornton Vale Women’s Prison.
“I hope that’s offered to the public resident officer, at least to the victims of this particular case,” she said.
On Tuesday, 31-year-old Adam Graham, who now goes by the name Isla Bryson, was found guilty of raping two women in Scotland in 2016 and 2019 after a trial in Glasgow High Court. I was.
Graham first appeared in court in 2019 and was named in court papers the following year around the time she began to be identified as Isla Annie Bryson.
The convicted rapist didn’t make a transition decision until he was 29, is now taking hormones, and is seeking surgery to complete his gender reassignment.
Bryson/Graham were held at Cornton Vale Women’s Prison in Stirling while awaiting sentencing for their crimes, but it is unclear where the prisoners are currently being held.
Scottish Conservative Party leader Douglas Morley, who raised the question, responded: “What is the prime minister trying to say when the reality is that this double rapist, this beast is now in a women’s prison? I don’t really know,” he said.
Female inmate safety
Prior to the confirmation, lawmakers and women’s rights activists expressed concern about the potential for Bryson/Graham to be tied to women’s property.
On Wednesday, Downing Street said it had expressed “concerns” about the situation.
An official spokesman for the prime minister said: I have seen the reports and understand the concerns. “
SNP MP and QC Joanna Cherry told Times Radio that she was “extremely concerned about the safety of the female prisoners who housed convicted rapists.”
“To many people, this convicted rapist would look like he manipulated the system to attract sympathy and end up in a women’s prison. And I think a lot of people would be shocked by that.” she said.
“So I think we should talk about these cases. And women in prison are very vulnerable. That’s why they’re particularly vulnerable, and perhaps some would say that no one really cares about prisoners,” she added.
“But the point about human rights is that they are universal and apply to everyone. I am,” said Cherry.
Cherry said that under Scottish law as well as English sex crimes law, the crime of rape can only be committed by someone who has a penis. by a man.
Self ID process
Scotland became the first country in the UK to support a self-identification process to legally change gender when it passed the Gender Awareness Reform (Scotland) Bill in December, but the UK government blocked the bill. This is the first time I have issued an order to do so. In its current form over concerns that the bill has “women and children’s safety issues.”
Scottish Conservative MP Russell Findlay said: “A Scottish court has said that a self-identified woman used her penis to rape two vulnerable women. We are in a completely perverse situation,” he said.
in November, Findlay has introduced an amendment to ban sex offenders from obtaining gender identity certificates The change has been blocked by the SNP, the Scottish Labor Party and the Scottish Greens MSP, unless you can prove you have gender dysphoria.
“We warned that this would be inevitable if the SNP gender self-identification law was passed, but that it has already become a reality is deeply worrying and a message for victims. It’s an insult,” he said.
“I couldn’t stand it”
Lorna Hotchkiss, former Warden of HMP Corntonvale in Scotland, said: Key Incident Concerns Female prisoners feel endangered by inappropriate, sexist and aggressive behavior and intimidation by male prisoners held in women’s camps.
“The quarantine must be renewed every 72 hours and approved by the Scottish ministers,” Hotchkiss told The Epoch Times in an email.
“It is almost impossible to maintain isolation if individuals are not beating or threatening staff or other prisoners. No, but I couldn’t hold them back,” she said.
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.
“How many times do we have to discuss why men convicted of rape are being held in women’s prisons?” Coleman told The Epoch Times.
“The point is that this is a man and it will not change. It’s not about trying to figure out who’s really trans, it’s about correctly identifying who’s a man and turning it into a man.” There is no, which is important in assessing risk and protection in these gender-segregated spaces,” Coleman added.
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said that under its regulations, the decision to accept transgender people “will be made on an individual basis, based on an interdisciplinary assessment of both risks and needs”.
“Such decisions seek to balance risks and protect both the well-being and rights of individuals and those of those around them, including staff, in order to achieve results that promote the safety of all. will do.
“If individuals are concerned about the risks they pose to themselves or others, we will retain the ability to separate them from the mainstream population until an agreed management plan is in place.”
PA Media contributed to this report.