Over 60% of male trans prisoners in UK are sexual predators
Nearly two-thirds of male prisoners in the UK who identify as transgender have been convicted of sex crimes, according to government figures.
The Daily Mail reported on Tuesday that roughly 151 out of 245 male inmates who claim to be women — around 62% — have been convicted of at least one sexual offense, compared with just 17% of male inmates overall. These figures apply to men who identify as transgender but have not received a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) legally recognizing them as females. Of the fifty or so male inmates who received GRCs, up to ten percent were reportedly convicted of sex crimes compared with 2% of female inmates.
Men in women’s prisons
These data have triggered fresh concerns about housing violent male transgender inmates in female prisons, a policy that only recently has been narrowed to apply in “exceptional circumstances.”
“Well over 90 per cent of transgender women in custody are held in the men’s estate and those who’ve been convicted of sexual or violent offences - and/or who retain male genitalia - cannot be held in a women’s prison unless in truly exceptional circumstances,” said a UK Ministry of Justice spokesman.
Last year, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) drew public outrage after placing a serial rapist named Adam Graham in the women’s penitentiary. Graham, who was sentenced to eight years for raping women, had declared himself a woman and changed his name to Isla Bryson. He was only moved to the men’s prison after widespread backlash. The scandal is said to have caused the resignation of Scotland’s then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who was unable to decide if Graham was a man or woman.
After that, the SPS decided that violent male felons — even those who commit violence against women — could be housed with female inmates if there is "compelling evidence that they do not present an unacceptable risk of harm to those in the women's prison.”
SPS Chief Executive Teresa Medhurst, who presided over the Graham affair, confirmed that a history of violence against women is not necessarily enough to bar a man from women’s prisons if he claims to be female. He must also be deemed a current risk to women.
“In the case of Isla Bryson, can you say that a trans woman who is in the middle of transitioning and has committed a violent crime against women will not go into the female estate?” she was asked on BBC Radio Scotland.
“I can say that anyone who has a history of violence against women and is currently assessed as a risk to women will not go into the female estate,” she replied.
But even those who are considered so dangerous to women that they cannot be housed with females may still be permitted to visit women’s prisons and interact with the inmates.
"An individualised approach was also seen to offer flexibility to the management of transgender individuals in prison. While it may be necessary to accommodate transgender individuals in a prison which does not align with their affirmed gender, there may be other ways of supporting their gender identity, for example through access to work parties, activities, or even programmes with others of their gender identity,” the SPS report said.
Trans prisoners may thus be allowed to participate in "activities and programes in that estate [which aligns with their current gender identity] while remaining housed in the estate which aligns with their gender assigned at birth", where it is deemed safe to do so for the individual and for others."
