Prison Service: Trans Prisoners Debate
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Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames
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Prison Service: Trans Prisoners
Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames Excerpts(9 years ago)
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Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames (LD)
Does the Minister recognise that one difficulty under the existing system, with giving priority to legal gender, is that trans people who turn out to be offenders may be the least likely to apply for gender recognition certificates under the 2004 Act? Will the government review take that into account?
Lord Faulks
The decision to apply for a certificate is, of course, an intensely personal one. What is important is that a prisoner, or indeed anybody, should know that they have the right to do so—but it would be entirely inappropriate to in any way place pressure on somebody to go through that process. The matter is one that the Act rightly treats with great care in terms of protection of data and all the sensitive matters that it is necessary to take into account when making a momentous decision of this sort.