Watchdog urges self-ID for trans prisoners

[IwantToRetire]

An international prisons watchdog has called for a policy of “self-ID” to allow transgender prisoners to be held in jails of their adopted gender.

The call flies in the face of practice in England and Wales, where the large majority of trans women prisoners are held in male jails – and all trans men in custody are held in female jails.

In its latest annual report, published in April, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) said it had seen “widely divergent” approaches to the placement of transgender prisoners across the territory it monitors.

It said: “The Committee considers that if a person self-identifies as transgender during the prison admission procedure, then this should be sufficient per se for the prison to treat the person as such in all decisions taken concerning that person, including placement decisions.”

Reflecting concerns that biologically-male prisoners cannot safely be housed in female jails, it added: “If, after an individualised risk assessment, there are exceptional security or other reasons to accommodate them elsewhere, those reasons should be clearly documented, and subject to regular review.”

From a longer article in InsideTime at https://insidetime.org/newsround/watchdog-urges-self-id-for-trans-prisoners/

I do wish they'd fuck the fucking fuck off with this vile woman hating lunacy 😡

I'm scared to go on Twitter (losing my job and all) - please could you elaborate on the comments or screenshot some? Thank you very much ❤️

Ratio: 11.5k views, 21 'likes', 55 comments, virtually all critical.

A selection:

'No way, biological sex is more important than gender. Men must be kept out of women’s prisons, anything else is reactionary misogyny.'

'What do you call locking women up with men and punishing the women if they won't pretend those men are female if not cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment?'

'My colleagues and I wrote to Mr Mitchell last year to raise concerns about the Scottish Prison Service's policy and its impact on the human rights of female prisoners. We never received a response.' (MBM Policy)

'As CPT opposes the mistreatment of all prisoners it should remember the safety of female prisoners. Evidence from England, Scotland, Canada and the US shows trans-identifying men to be twice as likely to have committed violent sexual crimes than the general male prison inmates.'

'This policy puts women's safety at risk.'

'You are wrong. Men don't magically become women with but a thought. You can recognise their transgender identity and you can protect women. These are not mutually exclusive. That does not involve putting men in prison with women.'

PronounssheRa · Yesterday 18:08

Has the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) considered that locking women up with males might, ya know, constitute Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Apparently not.

Fine, identify as any gender you like, but you're still going to the men's Big House.

Alan Mitchell says that trans prisoners are more likely to be the victims of violence than other prisoners. Does anyone know if that's true? If so, is it simply because they're trans, or because so many trans prisoners are sex offenders? Either way, they can apply to go on segregation.

That's all it is and ever was, woman hating lunacy. If any of these ridiculous organisations were really concerned about transpeople they'd be campaigning for and insisting on facilities for transpeople, trans spaces for trans prisoners etc. Instead they try to force women to accept these men into women's single sex spaces.

@SinnerBoy - MtF are no more targeted where I work than any other prisoner, and we still have very few incidents of violence amongst our prisoners. They're more likely to claim sexual assault. We have a large number of sex offenders (all our trans prisoners are...) and a huge population of homosexuals.

However, our trans population are afforded certain luxuries that our male population isn't. So perhaps they feel because they're being seen as women, they do not need to be the violent man whose fantasy is not being validated.

HMPworker

Thanks for that, I wonder why the trope that they are more at risk continues to be perpetuated?

You can set up an account and read stuff and never post. So you can see twittex yourself and not lose your job, fyi.
Just make sure you NEVER say what you really think in response to the madness, and you'll be fine.

I suspect it is because officially they are a minority, and minorities are historically more likely to be abused - black people, women, gays and lesbians, disabled people. So I feel they've pulled themselves under the flag of abused minority by association in many cases.

Perhaps historically, those with gender dysphoria may also have been gender non-conforming gays and lesbians. It is still difficult in many parts of the world for two same sex people to be recognised as partners, let alone have legal recognition of that.

How many rapes of female prisoners does Alan think constitutes acceptable collateral damage in order for the trans women prisoners to be validated?

I would genuinely like him to answer this question given what he's proposing.

Is he claiming that a greater proportion of trans women prisoners than actual women prisoners have been subject to abuse? Because that sounds like bollocks. Has he got any evidence for that claim?

Its been said before, but the fact that the feelings of male prisoners trump the actual safety of female prisoners shows that everyone making this recommendation knows exactly who is male and who is female and doesn't give a damn about the latter.