Rigorous individualised risk assessments
Transgender women do not have an automatic right to be placed in a women’s prison. Each convicted trans woman is risk assessed before being placed in any prison environment.
According to the government website:
‘At present more than 90% of transgender women are housed in men’s prisons and most do not request a move to the women’s estate. There is currently no obligation to place a transgender prisoner according to their preference, and where individuals are held is based purely on risk. However, the government has decided to take this further step as an additional measure to protect women.
Transgender women prisoners who cannot be safely housed in a men’s prison can be imprisoned in a specialist unit.’
These rules apply even if a trans woman has a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).
A GRC is a legal document that grants a trans person the right to update their sex on a UK birth certificate.
Trans women are more at risk of violence than cis women in prison
The idea that female prisoners are “paying the price for an ‘Orwellian’ Scottish government policy that allows some transgender inmates to be housed in female prisons” is complete hyperbole. Scare tactics designed to further expose trans women to harm.
Transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violent victimisation.
According to the Williams Institute, trans people are up to four times more likely to be raped, sexually assaulted and ‘experience violent victimisation’ than cisgender people.
The UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) states:
“Research indicates that 62% – 73% of transgender people have experienced harassment and violence because they were identified as transgender. This included verbal abuse, threatening behaviour, physical and sexual assault.”
The CPS also reports that:
Despite high rates of hate crime or incidents towards transgender people, a high proportion goes unreported.
The fact that some bad-faith campaign groups want to further increase the risk of harm to trans people through a blanket ban must be scrutinised.
All the evidence of such a ban points to an increased risk of harm to trans women and zero change to the safety of cis female inmates.
And what of male prison guards and trans men?
You never hear the gender-critical ‘defenders of women and girls’ calling out the potential vulnerability and harm caused to women by cis male guards. There have been cases of male guards sexually assaulting female inmates. Where’s the outrage? Nowhere!
Where’s the outrage at the lack of support given to women leaving prison? Nowhere!
And what of trans men? Why do gender-critical activists never discuss trans male prisoners? Where’s the compassion for their ‘biological’ comrades? They seem perfectly okay with trans men being placed in female prisons. Not caring about the potential harm this could cause to them. Not caring that a fully transitioned trans man may be housed with cis women. Trans men are not spoken of in the prison debate because it doesn’t suit their narrative of framing trans women as big, scary and threatening “men”.
Their arguments are framed to cause maximum fear of trans women. The reality is trans women are the victims of a very organised witch hunt that wrongly tars them all as predators.
The debate is not helping any female inmates
The energy of bad faith groups would be much better placed in improving the conditions of all female inmates.
A report from the UK HM Inspectorate of Prisons says:
“Prisons are not doing enough to help women cope in prison and for some, the lack of care to meet their basic needs causes such distress that they resort to harming themselves, according to a new report.”
The Prison Trust further documents the poor conditions faced by female inmates. They say:
“Women are much more likely than men to self-harm whilst in prison. In 2023, women made up 27% of all self-harm incidents despite making up only 4% of the prison population.
Many women have dependent children – an estimated 17,000 children are affected by maternal imprisonment every year.”
Surely these systemic issues must be a priority for these “women’s rights” groups. I could find no evidence of these groups working to tackle and overcome any of the above issues.
Scottish Court challenge could impact prison policy UK-wide
As of February 2026, For Women Scotland (FWS) is challenging the Scottish Prison Service’s specific guidelines regarding the placement of transgender prisoners. They argue that ‘biological men’ (they mean cis men and trans women) should not be housed in the female estate. While this is a Scottish court challenge, the arguments hinge on the interpretation of the UK-wide Equality Act 2010. If the Scottish guidance is deemed unlawful due to the Supreme Court’s definition of ‘woman’, it pressures similar policies in England and Wales to align with a stricter biological interpretation.
