Professionals have been warned that new Scottish transgender prison regulations are” sexist” and will result in traumatizing vulnerable girls.
Politicians are urging Holyrood lawmakers to prevent the implementation of new regulations that were introduced in the midst of the Isla Bryson incident, despite assertions that they are worse than the replacement policy.
If it is determined that there is” compelling” evidence that they do not pose” an unacceptable risk of harm,” the Scottish Prison Service ( SPS) plans to permit even trans criminals with a history of violence against women to be housed in female jails.
Even those who are deemed to be too dangerous to spend their entire lives in female prisons may be given the opportunity to temporarily mix with female inmates in an effort to” support their gender identity.”
The approach taken south of the border, where there is a ban on transgender females with male testicles being held in women’s prison, is in striking contrast to the plan, which is scheduled to go into effect in February.
Plan groups and academics have asserted that the rules are based on sexism and misogyny because they prioritize the safety and rights of natural men over those of women before Holyrood’s justice committee meets.
Fears are “quickly dismissed.”
The SPS has been successful in creating guidelines for managing transgender prisoners that are more ambiguous than the original, according to Lisa Mackenzie of the policy analysis group Murray Blackburn Mackinzie ( MBM ).
Concerns about the effects on sexual prisoners and feminine jail officers are acknowledged, but they are quickly dismissed as being less significant than the demands of trans identified female prisoners.” The evaluation process has the thinnest veneer of significant consultation.”
The SPS believes that female prisoners may be subjected to an appropriate amount of damage. This is institutionalized misogyny, little less.
Isla Bryson, formerly known as Adam Graham, was found guilty of two counts of murder under the previous SPS policy, which was supported by the SNP and was based on the gender self-identification principle. In 2023, she was sent to Scotland’s even women prison.
Following an uproar, Bryson was transferred to a female prison, and the scandal plagued Nicola Sturgeon’s last weeks in office. Ms. Sturgeon steadfastly refused to comment on whether she thought Bryson was a man or woman. Following the event, a stricter SPS scheme was put into effect, but it was only momentary.
MBM added that it had learned from days made public by the Freedom of Information Act that suggested SNP officials and their representatives had played a significant role in establishing the rules.
Individuals will be housed in accordance with their biological sex under the fresh SPS coverage until adequate data has been gathered to make an “individualized decision” regarding whether they can be securely incarcerated in a facility that matches their gender identity.
But, “other ways of supporting their gender identity” should be made available to even those who are deemed too risky to spend their entire lives in a women’s prison.
According to documents, this might entail “access to labor parties, activities, or even programs with others of their female identity.”
The idea of providing “day passes” for women’s prisons to unsafe male offenders angered Kate Coleman, chairman of the Maintain Prisons Single Sexual campaign.
In order for these male prisoners to have the opportunity to “practice” being women before being released, she said,” this clearly and proudly sees sexual prisoners while providing a service of “validation” or as objects to be studied and emulated.”
Jo Phoenix, a professor at the University of Reading, claimed that the policy ignored the possibility that defenseless women may become traumatized by the mere presence of female inmates.
There is growing information, if subjective, that the presence of male body in female prisons can have a retraumatizing effect on female captives with long histories of aggressive victimization at the hands of men, according to researcher Prof. Phoenix.
In a joint letter to opposition parties ‘ justice representatives at Holyrood, MBM, Stay Prison Single Sex, and For Women Scotland, it was stated that the policy was” a backward step from the time plan put in place in response to the public outcry over the Graham/Bryson event in January last month, reverting to an approach nearer to what went before and in several ways, we think, worse.” We think it stems from administrative sexism, which treats the rights and needs of resilient female prisoners less favorably than those of female ones.
Our new legislation, according to a spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service, “takes an individualized approach to the entrance, location, and control of trans people in Scotland’s prisons to support the health, safety, or wellbeing of all people living and working there.”
When determining risk, we will properly take into account a variety of factors, including insulting history, with an emphasis on violence against women and girls. There wo n’t be any transgender women in the female estate who have a history of violence against women and girls and who put women at risk.
“SPS developed the plan after considerable engagement, including suggestions from experts in violence against women, several interviews with men and women in prison, transgender people, and those who are not,” according to the statement.
