Reports that over 60 percent of Scottish transgender prisoners only transitioned after being locked up have been deemed “shocking but unsurprising” by women’s rights campaigners.
The figures, disclosed to the newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, also reveal there were seven trans women—biological men identifying as female—being allowed to serve their sentences in the women’s estate.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said in its response to The Telegraph that “of those seven, less than five individuals in our care were recorded as beginning their transition after their date of conviction.”
The latest figures follow anger over the SPS’s handling of transgender double rapist Isla Bryson.
Earlier this year Bryson—previously known as Adam Graham—was sent to Cornton Vale women’s prison near Stirling to await sentencing after being convicted.
He was later moved to the male estate following a public and political storm over the plans to house him alongside female prisoners.
It emerged that the 31-year-old only began transitioning from male to female in 2020 after being charged with raping two women.
The convicted killers include Sophie Eastwood, formerly known as Daniel Eastwood, who strangled his cellmate at a young offenders’ institution in Dumfries in 2004, the newspaper said.
Human Rights
Speaking to The Epoch Times on Tuesday, Marion Calder of the campaign group For Women Scotland, said the latest figures on the transitioning of inmates were “unsurprising.”“These figures are shocking but unsurprising to us, we’ve been aware of this for quite a while.
“This is absolutely about women’s rights but the focus seems to be all about males that identify as trans now, whether that’s before their conviction or after, the focus always seems to be on their human rights.
“A male does not have a human right to be put in a female prison. This is nonsense.”
The campaigner said the current situation within Scotland’s prison service surrounding the housing of transgender inmates was down to “policy, not rights.”
“This is a Scottish Prison Service policy which is wrong, and it’s fundamentally actually breaking the human rights of the female to have a single sex space,” she added.
The Epoch Times has contacted the SPS for comment.
Kenny MacAskill, the Alba Party MP and a former Scottish National Party (SNP) justice secretary, told The Telegraph that the latest figures confirm “that self-ID is being used to avoid going to male prisons by male prisoners who have convictions for very serious crimes.”
In January, the Isla Bryson case caused controversy amid a debate around self-ID and the Scottish Government’s Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Act, which was blocked by the UK government.
An urgent review on the movement of the transgender rapist to the female prison was also ordered by Justice Secretary Keith Brown.
That revealed that Bryson had spent a day-and-a-half in the female prison where the 31-year-old was housed in a segregation unit away from other inmates.
Political Pressure
The review’s recommendations included improving communication within the justice sector and the creation of a “shared justice process” for the admission of transgender people into prisons.A pause on the movement of transgender prisoners with a history of violence against women into the female estate has continued until a wider review of the handling of transgender prisoners can be undertaken.
The issue piled pressure on Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who faced street protests over the handling of the transgender prisoner row.
Within weeks, Sturgeon announced she was resigning as Scotland’s leader.
Sturgeon said the behaviour of a “tiny minority” including the convicted rapist could not justify denying rights to transgender people.
“What gender that person said they were, was less important than saying they were a convicted rapist,” Sturgeon said.
“The fact they were a convicted rapist should not have been used by anybody as a pretext for denying rights to the wider trans community.”
She also revealed that she received the most intense abuse of her political career over the Gender Recognition Reform act, which seeks to make it easier for a transgender person to be legally identified in their preferred gender.
Gender Reform
Sturgeon’s successor Humza Yousaf was announced as Scotland’s new leader on Monday.His campaign manager has since said the new SNP leader will seek to “defend democracy” by pressing ahead with controversial gender reforms blocked by the British government.
Neil Gray, who is also the Scottish culture minister, told Times Radio: “I think there is an important principle at stake here.
“Of course he is going to listen to the legal advice—he has to do that—but there is an important principle at stake which is about the democracy and the democratic mandate given to the Scottish Parliament that must be defended.
“A two-thirds majority passed the Gender Recognition Bill in the Scottish Parliament
“MSPs from every single political party supported it, so it is right now that Humza Yousaf—at the first time that section 35 of the Scotland Act has been used—tests that and challenges it, because democracy is at stake.
“We must defend Scottish democracy and devolution. Otherwise, what is the point?”
Women’s rights campaigners say they will continue to campaign against such reforms.
Responding to Yousaf’s plans, For Women Scotland told The Epoch Times: “We are very disappointed that it looks like Humza will continue the footsteps of his predecessor and compare and choose to ignore women’s voices.
“Our campaign remains unchanged.”
