https://archive.ph/A6OZ7
Scottish prison service’s transgender guidance ruled unlawful
The Times
Monday August 03 2026, 12.01am BST, The Times
Listen• 6:25 min
Outer House of the Court of Session
Published: August 3, 2026
Petition of For Women Scotland Ltd
Before Lady Ross
<a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/A6OZ7/www.bailii.org/scot/cases/ScotCS/2026/2026csoh59.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[2026] CSOH 59
Judgment June 19, 2026
Scottish Prison Service Guidance providing that, in some circumstances, it was permissible for biological men to be accommodated within the women’s prison estate was unlawful. It was unlawful because it misstated the law.
The Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011 (“the rules”) provided for the separation of men and women. Following the Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers ([2025] UKSC 16, 2025 SC (UKSC) 1, <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.ph/o/A6OZ7/www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/the-supreme-courts-ruling-on-trans-women-in-detail-87kjbxp3j" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Times, April 20, 2025), the words “woman” and “man” in the prison rules could only mean biological woman and biological man.
Lady Ross so held in the Outer House of the Court of Session when granting the petition for judicial review by For Women Scotland Ltd, seeking to have the guidance on the management of transgender prisoners issued by the first respondents, the Scottish Prison Service, an executive agency of the Scottish Ministers, declared unlawful. The second respondent was the Lord Advocate.
Mr Aidan O’Neill KC and Tony Convery for the petitioners; Gerry Moynihan KC and Lesley Irvine for the Scottish Ministers and Lord Advocate; Kenny McBrearty KC and Rachel Breen for the Scottish Human Rights Commission (first intervener); Janys Scott KC and David Anderson for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (second intervener).
LADY ROSS said that the proceedings concerned the “SPS Policy for the Management of Transgender People in Custody Operational Guidance” issued in 2024.