I saw on Twitter that some people are upset the Lords haven't discussed the three trans women who killed themselves while serving time in male prisons: Vicky Thompson, Joanne Latham and Jenny Swift. Obviously, any suicide is a tragedy and should not have happened. But I also think it's exploitative and untrue to suggest that these people wouldn't have killed themselves if they had been given access to a female prison.
Vicky was a prisoner at HMP Leeds. It has a huge problem with suicide, with 14 self inflicted deaths between 2012-2017. Vicky was put in a vulnerable unit, but due to staff shortages was not checked very often which is how Vicky was able to take their own life. Vicky did not have a GRC, and had not undergone any gender reassignment treatment. But crucially, in the inquest into Vicky's death witnesses said that Vicky did NOT want to be put into a female jail. Vicky said they were "treated like a god" in the male prison, given special privileges such as solitary shower time, and did not want to live with women as they are "too bitchy". Vicky was invited to write requesting a transfer but never did. Why are Vicky's wishes and intentions not being taken into account?
A female prison wouldn't have helped Joanne Latham either. Joanne was sent to prison for attempted murder after trying to kill a female friend. Joanne then tried to kill two more people in prison, and was moved to a CSC unit which is for the most dangerous and difficult to control prisoners. Joanne was not even eligible to request a transfer to the women's estate, as the female prison system doesn't have a single CSC. Latham transitioned during their time in prison, and so it is doubtful they had a GRC, or underwent medical transition. In any case, even if they could have been sent to a female jail it is likely they would fail the risk assessment because they posed a risk to women.
Jenny Smith was in prison for attempted murder, and committed suicide when the victim died and the charge was upgraded to murder. The paramedic on the scene said it was the worst stabbing he had ever witnessed. At the time of the killing, Jenny identified as a male. Smith had requested a transfer to a woman's prison, and there was every indication this was going to go ahead. Smith had been initially refused hormone treatment as they had been using black market hormones, but after an assessment they were given the green light to go on prescription hormones. Again, there is no evidence that the suicide was caused by a refusal to let Jenny be on the female estate, as Jenny had been told she would probably be transferred. The suicide appears to have been triggered by the charge being upgraded to murder.
Aside from Vicky, the other two prisoners were deemed to be unstable, with anger issues and uncontrolled aggression. They went to prison for exceptionally violent crimes, which are very rare for females to commit. Do women not have a right to object to violent men (for they were men when they committed the crimes) later saying they are women and requesting a prison transfer?
So yes, lets talk about the trans prisoners who sadly killed themselves. Because when you dig into it, you find that their suicides had very little to do with their lack of access to the female prison estate.