29 Jan. () –
The Scottish Government Counselor for Justice, Keith Brown, has announced the suspension of transfers of trans prisoners to women’s prisons pending a study on the matter being carried out by the Scottish Prison Service and guaranteeing their safety in the meantime.
The measure means that no transgender convicts with a history of violence against women will be sent to a women’s prison or to a women’s section of men’s jails.
“I understand that the issue of a trans woman convicted of violent or sexual crimes is a very sensitive issue and that it is understandable that there is public concern,” Brown said, according to the newspaper ‘The Scotsman’.
Brown recalled that the Chief Minister, Nicolas Sturgeon, stressed that “we must not allow it to be insinuated that trans women themselves pose a threat to women.”
“Predatory men are a danger to women. However, as with any other group in society, a small number of trans women can commit crimes and be sentenced to prison. That is why these measures provide guarantees so that the Penitentiary Service to manage trans people and guarantee the safety of all prisoners,” he argued. Brown has also advocated for always keeping the victims of these cases of violence in mind.
The counselor has indicated that this measure is not related to the new Gender Recognition Reform Act, a bill approved by the Scottish Parliament to streamline sex change processes later annulled by the British Government, which has caused a conflict of powers.
It is also related to the controversy over the case of a transgender woman, Isla Bryson, convicted of the rape of two women before changing her sex – she was previously Adam Graham – and who was transferred to a women’s prison. After the scandal, she was taken back to a men’s prison.
In another controversial case, Tiffany Scott harassed a 13-year-old girl when she was still Andrew Burns and had requested a transfer to a women’s prison. ‘The Daily Record’ has ensured that the request had been approved after an initial refusal.
