Good news! Prison searches to be same-sex only.

[ArabellaScott]

This from KPSS, a huge well done to them:

twitter.com/NoXYinXXprisons/status/1593343078852694019

'I am most relieved to report that the new Searching Policy Framework, which comes into force at the beginning of 2023, will NOT permit officers of the male sex who identify as transgender to search female offenders:

'The review of this Policy Framework commenced at the beginning of 2021. Documents we had received indicated that allowing officers of the male sex who identify as transgender & who have a GRC would be allowed to strip search female offenders.'

t.co/DWtjCKnIdp

Fantastic news ...I wonder does it also prevent men claiming to be women demanding a female officer searches them. Hope this carries through to the prison service also.

Sorry meant carries through to police service. Cannot open Annex A. There is reference for to "legal sex" one part so would be a little worried that this only applies if no grc.

It is the prison service, Believer.

'Prisoners in the women’s estate must only be searched by female staff. See Annex A for transgender considerations. In addition, no prisoner will be full searched in the sight of another prisoner, or in the sight of other staff not undertaking the search.'

I'm just reading the Annex now, hmm ....

This is not looking good, actually. Maybe I'm misreading?

'The starting point for any searching arrangements is that a transgender prisoner who holds a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) is legally of the gender outlined on the GRC irrespective of their birth gender and therefore must be searched by a member of staff of the same gender as the prisoner’s affirmed (GRC) gender. Alternatives to this can be agreed as long as the individual agrees, and this is detailed on a voluntary agreement.

Transgender prisoners who do not hold a GRC do not have the right to insist on being full searched by staff who are (in these circumstances) of the opposite legal sex'

'Transgender women with a GRC must be full searched by female officers according to the women’s full search procedures outlined in Annex D.

Transgender men with a GRC must be full searched by male officers.'

'It is recognised that a full search of a transgender prisoner may cause some practical difficulties and that some staff may not feel comfortable with this.

Local arrangements should be made by prisons to deploy additional measures to put staff at ease, this could include the use of technical aids or the presence of additional staff in the vicinity of the search whilst still ensuring the decency and privacy of the prisoner. If a member of staff is still uncomfortable and it is operationally viable to have someone else complete the full search, this should be considered. Any staff concerns must, however, be raised and handled sensitively and respectfully to avoid causing any undue distress.'

Maybe I'm reading the old documents, and the new ones haven't been uploaded onto the MoJ site? I'll stop quoting from them til I work it out!

Fingers crossed Arabella. Hopefully the documents have been fully amended and not uploaded yet but I'm worried that's not the case and it's been a bit, "yes yes we'll fix it, don't worry" by putting the line about women only being searched by somebody of the same sex. However this is contradicted by the transgender guidance.

Could anybody whose on Twitter ask kpss if that's the old document they've linked too?

Well, I'm quoting from the Annexes, not from the doc KPSS linked to, which references Annexes, but doesn't have a link within it to them.

I got the Annexes off the gov.uk site.

www.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-law/prisons-probation#guidance_and_regulation

Er, okay, that link went very odd.

I'm just confusing everything, I'm sorry. Maybe I'll ask for the thread to get taken down. :(

No it's ok Arabella. You are correct...KPSS have said they are still going to fight this, their priority was to protect female prisoners from being searched by a trans identified man. Which they feel this does. They are aware of the issue with transgender prisoners still remains. At least this protects the most vulnerable. Baby steps!

Strip searches only or does it also include clothed pat-downs?

Part of the issue is the phrasing.

For the sane world a transgender women is a woman who is transgender so a transman not a male person.
they should remove all reference to woman and man I think and just say male or female.

Great news. I wonder if this also means female police officers/ prison guards won't have to search men who identify as women (with penises)?

Transgender men with a GRC must be full searched by male officers.'

This would not be safe for them Imo.

Unfortunately not, the relevant section is quoted in one of my posts above.

'Transgender women with a GRC must be full searched by female officers according to the women’s full search procedures outlined in Annex D.'

This bit also makes zero sense:

'Squatting within the women’s estate is not identified as an effective searching method in respect of the fact that secreted items would not be visible even if a squat were undertaken.

The basic principle here is that anyone who is legally female (from birth or affirmed via a GRC) or who was assigned female at birth must not be asked to bend or squat and, in addition, prisoners must only be searched involving a squat in accordance with the part of the prison estate they are located.'

The effectiveness presumably depends on certain physical characteristics? These aren't going to change just by virtue of a GRC.

'Rub Down Searches

Female staff can carry out rub-down searches on all transgender visitors and staff because they can rub down search both men and women.

Male staff must not carry out rub-down searches on transgender women visitors and staff regardless of GRC.'

'Male staff can carry out rub-down searches on transgender men visitors and staff regardless of GRC unless they object to being searched by a male member of staff'

Who knows wtf this means: 'Non-binary visitors and staff must be full searched according to their legal gender'

The whole thing sounds like a complete mess.

I would assume from that that unless a non-binary identifying person has a GRC they'll be having a same sex search.

This is a bit ambiguous (maybe not in full context, but I haven't read the report of annexes).

From what I understand thee can be other people in the room. I thought this was supposed to be part of some security protocol for both prisoner and searching guard. In reality it's meant - from what I've understood- that women have been searched while men looked on.

This wording suggests people can be present, but the prisoner not in "full view". And it does not suggest they have to be female either. So a female prisoner can still be (partially) viewed by men, while intimately searched.

Hopefully I've got that wrong out of context.

I have an issue with strip searches on anybody, but in this case female prisoners.

As someone who has experienced multiple sexual trauma, the very thought of a strip search is enough to make me have full blown panic attacks. While we're all different, we're not that different, so it's pretty much certain that these searches - every time a prisoner returns from court too - are (re)traumatising for a population that has already suffered a high level of sexual violence.

And it's unnecessary because technology could be used to carry out these searches, but nobody wants to pay for it, so it's not.

There's another thread where a poster stated that it's not a problem for women to face risk of rape in prison. The responses were rightly disgusted. In the context of strip searching and internally searching sexual assault and rape survivors, when there is an alternative, I find it equally barbaric.

And this goes for men's prisons too, but I'm focussing on women here.