Scotland has decided to review its very liberal prison rules, finding that transgender prisoners cannot be locked up in women’s prisons if they are convicted of violent crimes against women except in “exceptional circumstances”. The review of the Scottish Prison Service’s policy follows lengthy debate sparked by the Isla Bryson case, which hit headlines in the UK earlier this year. Isla Bryson is a transgender woman convicted of two rapes committed in 2016 and 2019, before her transition began, when she was still going by the name Adam Graham. In accordance with the country’s rules, Bryson was initially sent to an all-female prison in Cornton Vale, despite still having male genitalia.
However, in January, with the consent of then Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the convicted woman was transferred to a men’s prison. “I don’t understand how it is possible that there is a rapist in a women’s prison,” Sturgeon said. The case had created a short-circuit in the principle that the SNP leader wanted to defend, namely that a person should be able to identify with the gender they believe they belong to and be treated accordingly by society in every way. with this gender.
What made it even more shocking was that this was not the first such case. Although 22-year-old trans woman Katie Dolatowski was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl and filming a 12-year-old boy in the bathroom, she was detained for a while in Scotland’s Cornton Vale women’s prison.
As the Guardian reports, the new guidelines introduce an “individualized approach” where transgender women with a history of violence against women and who are considered a risk to them will not be sent to women’s prisons. Those who legally change their gender can be held in detention facilities based on their sex at birth “if deemed necessary to promote the safety and well-being of people.”
According to the latest available data, there were a total of 23 transgender inmates and prisoners in Scottish prisons from January to March 2023; these included 12 trans women in the men’s sector, seven trans women and one trans woman in the women’s sector. There is one man in the men’s section and three trans men in the women’s section. The rules are much more restrictive in England and Wales; In February, then-Home Secretary Dominic Raab, again in the wake of the Bryson scandal, introduced new measures against transgender prisoners who have committed sexual or violent crimes or possess male genitalia and cannot serve their sentence. sentences in women’s prisons “unless expressly approved at the highest level.”
In Italy, legal gender reassignment is linked to a 1982 law requiring the ‘surgical correction’ of gender, but in fact it is sufficient to accompany this decision today, thanks to two decisions of the Supreme Court and one of the Constitutional Court. Request for gender change based on expert opinion. But in more and more countries around the world, this is not even necessary. For example, in states such as Spain, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and Norway, self-certification is sufficient for gender reassignment. Scotland also approved a reform in this sense; but this reform was blocked by a veto from the central government in London.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
