Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to prevent transgender women being placed in male population prisons while their cases are reviewed.
Transgender women that have a history of violent and/or sexual offences, or retain their birth genitalia, are initially allocated to the men’s prison estate. Arrangements are made to keep them and other prisoners safe ahead of risk assessments that consider their ongoing placement. These assessments can be held prior to sentencing, and where they are not, they will be convened urgently for transgender women allocated to the men’s estate.
Recognising the vulnerability of some transgender prisoners, separate provision for transgender women exists on a discrete unit at HMP Downview, which enables us to manage transgender women who both pose too much risk to be held in the general women’s estate but are too vulnerable to be held in the men’s estate.
We support transgender prisoners regardless of where they are held, and most transgender women do not request to be held in the women’s estate.