The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has announced that all transgender prisoners entering the Scottish prison system will first be placed in prisons that match their birth gender, reversing its previous inclusive policy, The Guardian reports.
This new protocol replaces previous guidelines developed in collaboration with the Scottish Trans Alliance, which stated that all incarcerated transgender individuals should be housed in a jail consistent with the gender in which they live in the community pending a full risk assessment.
The policy change follows public outrage after Isla Bryson, a transgender double rapist posing as a woman, was initially incarcerated in a women’s prison. The SPS stated that until the reviews of transgender prisoners are completed, all transgender individuals with a history of violence against women will not be transferred from male to female prisons. There will be a full review of all transgender people in custody, after which the Scottish Government will review its policy.