“Trans” prisoners in women’s prisons

On 3 April 2019, I wrote to Rory Stewart ( who was, at the time, Minister of State with responsibility for prisons and probation) as follows. It probably goes without saying that my view is that no man should ever, under any circumstances, be housed in the women’s estate. If a male prisoner is at risk because he wears womanface, he can be housed with other high-risk male prisoners on what I believe is called the Nonce Wing.

Dear Mr Stewart

Prison provision for male prisoners “identifying as women”

Following the much-publicised Karen White case, I was delighted to see Andrew Gilligan’s report in the Times on 2 March 2019, headlined ‘Europe’s first jail in a jail’ for trans women, and describing a unit for male prisoners who “identify as women” at HMP Downview. The report includes the following words. The Ministry of Justice said three transgender prisoners with gender recognition certificates would initially be housed in the new wing and would not have access to other offenders at the prison.”

I have recently been made aware by campaigners who mounted a demonstration at HMP Downview that the new “Trans Wing” is inside the women’s prison. Apart from sleeping and ablutions, the male prisoners are encouraged to freely associate with the female prisoners. Most of the male prisoners there have been imprisoned for sexual offences against women and children. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that these male prisoners present a risk to the female inmates. My concern is for the safety and wellbeing of these acutely vulnerable women, who are at the mercy of the provision made for them by your Ministry.

I would appreciate your thoughts on why the Ministry of Justice seems to have misled journalists and the public when they said that they would remove male prisoners who “identify as women” from the women’s estate, and house them in a specialised unit, after the Karen White scandal.

Yours sincerely

The Martian Anthropologist

On 23 May 2019 I received the following reply from one Rosaline Carew, of Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service, which is based at 14.05 Southern House, Wellesley Grove, Croydon CR0 1XN.

Dear Martian Anthropologist

MoJ ref: TO/19/287

Thank you for your email addressed to the Justice Minister, Rory Stewart regarding the Prison provision for male prisoners “identifying as women”, received by this
department on 3 April 2019. I am responding on behalf of Her Majesty’s Prisons and
Probation Service (HMPPS).

The care and management of transgender offenders is a complex and sensitive issue and it is realistic to expect that, in cases such as this, media coverage will be a simplified account of what are in fact both intricate and individualised operational decisions. We are always clear and accurate when responding to press enquires and it is important to note that this relates to the management of a very small number of individuals and it is therefore not appropriate for us to comment in detail on them in public, through the media, or otherwise.

The safety of all prisoners is our priority and we are committed to ensuring that those under our care and management are treated fairly, lawfully and decently, with their rights properly respected.

In 2016 the Ministry of Justice commissioned a review into the care and management of transgender offenders and this led to a new operational instruction, PSI 17/2016, which was fully implemented on 1 January 2017 across all men’s and women’s prisons.

The key principle underlying the instruction is that individuals should be cared for and managed in the gender with which they identify, rather than all decisions being based on their legally recognised gender (which for most transgender people is not the gender in which they identify).

While we will always apply this principle, there is no legal obligation to locate a transgender prisoner in a prison according to their self-declared gender and decisions on transferring someone to a prison which does not match their birth gender can only be made on the recommendation of a “Complex Case Board”. These boards will look at the overall management of the individual, including the most appropriate location, and any other measures which are necessary to manage any risks both to them or presented by them. External experts, such as healthcare providers or Gender Identity Clinics will be involved, and all decisions are the responsibility of a senior prison manager.

Following the Karen White case, HMPPS has been looking again at how policy is
implemented to ensure we avoid a repeat of this case. The policy is currently being reviewed to incorporate learning from the past two years and a new version will be published in the near future.

I hope you have found the response reassuring and helpful, and I am grateful to you for writing.

Yours sincerely,

Rosaline Carew
HMPPS

 

I may be being dim, but I find paragraphs 5 and 6 of this rather difficult to, as our American friends are wont to say, parse.

Para 1, fine.

Para 2, if you say so – I don’t really see how an account can be both “clear and accurate” and also “simplified”, but I’ll let this go.

Para 3, so far, so motherhood and apple pie.

Para 4, thank you, there’s some actual information.

Para 5. Now we seem to have entered the Upside Down, the realm we always end up in whenever “trans” issues are being discussed. “The key principle underlying the instruction is that individuals should be cared for and managed in the gender with which they identify, rather than all decisions being based on their legally recognised gender (which for most transgender people is not the gender in which they identify).”

I think that the second time Rosaline uses the word “gender”, as in legally recognised gender, she actually means “sex”. Let’s see how that sounds.

“The key principle … is that individuals should be … managed in the gender with which they identify, rather than all decisions being based on their legally recognised sex (which for most transgender people is not the gender in which they identify).” Setting aside the syntactical problems which Rosaline seems to have with what you can actually do with the word “gender” (apparently you can manage a prisoner in a gender) and her phrasal verb problem of whether a “trans” person identifies “with” or “in” a gender, this sentence would appear to mean that the Prison Service thinks that it is appropriate to treat a male prisoner who says he’s a woman as though he actually is a woman.

Para 6. Still in the Upside Down. “While we will always apply this principle (that is, the principle of managing a prisoner “in the gender with which they identify”, so putting a man in a women’s prison if he says he’s a woman) there is no legal obligation to locate a transgender prisoner in a prison according to their self-declared gender (so the Prison Service will always apply this principle, even though there is no legal obligation to do so) and decisions on transferring someone to a prison which does not match their birth gender (I think Rosaline means sex here) can only be made on the recommendation of a “Complex Case Board” (so the Prison Service will always apply the principle, even though they are under no legal obligation to do so, and if they want to move a man to a women’s prison they have to take it to a Complex Case Board). These boards will look at the overall management of the individual, including the most appropriate location, and any other measures which are necessary to manage any risks both to them or presented by them. External experts, such as healthcare providers or Gender Identity Clinics will be involved, and all decisions are the responsibility of a senior prison manager.”

So, to conclude.  The prison service is under no legal obligation to move men to women’s prisons, and if they want to recommend that this should happen, they have to go to all the trouble of taking this proposal to a board including external experts. Despite this, they have developed an operational instruction, PSI 17/2016, which states that a “trans” prisoner should be managed “in the gender with which they identify”. Aren’t these two co-existing truths at odds with each other? If the prison service genuinely believes that men should be managed as women if they say they are women, why should the transfer to a women’s prison be signed off by a Complex Case Board? After all, what could be less “complex” than putting a Bewdiful Laydee Lagette into a women’s prison? Is the prison service actually very well aware that allowing men into women’s prisons is incredibly risky for the female prisoners, but is so terrified of the TransBorg that they won’t say so?

 

 

 

 

 

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