2nd August 2019
(extract)
"The Scottish Prison Service said it would hold a consultation after research was published by a leading former civil servant.
There are 15 trans women inside Scotland’s jails – around half of which are housed in female prisons. None of themn have undergone sex reassignment surgery and none have legally changed their gender.
One prison worker told STV News that prisoners were regularly being subjected to displays of “sexualised behaviour”.
In her report, Edinburgh University researcher Lucy Hunter Blackburn said there was a lack of consideration given to the needs of women prisoners.
She said: “I’m absolutely astonished that a policy intended to move prisoners from the male estate into the female estate took no account of possible harms and risks to women.
“We already know that female prisoners are very vulnerable and have very high instances of mental health problems and histories of sexual and physical assault.” (continues)
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