UK Edition
Jailed male sex offenders are faking transgender identities in an effort to move to women-only prisons, research backed by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) suggests.
The moves were disclosed in interviews with prisoners who had already transitioned and felt the “fakers” were a threat to their reputation and to the limited resources available to them in custody.
Inmates who pretended to be transitioning saw it as a way to lower their risk and to try to secure a place in the female prison estate, according to the evidence unearthed by Inside Time, the prisoners’ newspaper.
Last year there were 168 legally-male trans women prisoners in England and Wales. Only six were in women’s prisons, with the remainder in men’s. A further 11 prisoners had legally switched gender by obtaining Gender Recognition Certificates.
The figures show that men jailed for sexual offences are twice as likely to identify as trans women than men jailed for other types of offences.
The MoJ has introduced tougher rules following the controversy in Scotland over the decision to send Isla Bryson, a transgender convict who was found guilty of raping two women before transitioning, to an all-female prison.
The new rules mean that transgender women jailed for violence or sexual assaults are no longer able to be held in mainstream women’s prisons.
The study was carried out by Sarah Firth, a forensic psychologist with the prison service. “There was a theme in the findings related to participants having to prove their authenticity to others, but also questioning how genuine or fake other transgender prisoners were,” she said.
“Participants described how the fakers were a threat both to the reputation of prisoners who were transitioning gender, but also a threat to the limited resources that were available to them in custody.”
The finding on “fakers” echoes a letter in July’s issue of Inside Time from a serving trans woman prisoner, at HMP Dartmoor, who wrote: “Sadly, there are people who use being transgender as a tool.
“Some sex offenders used to say they were transgender as they believed it lowered risk and made them exempt from courses, and also in the hope they would be placed in the female estate … It is just unfortunate that people jump on the transgender bandwagon for personal gain – it makes genuine people look bad.”
Those interviewed said they had felt gender dysphoria from a young age and had hidden their true selves for years before coming to prison. Some had never met another transgender person before coming into custody and said that meeting others had prompted them to think about their own identity.
They felt happier since transitioning and had more sense of purpose – which, they claimed, would make them less likely to re-offend.
Most denied that being transgender increased their risk of committing sexual offences, although one participant said that jealousy of a female partner’s femininity was a factor in motivating their sexual offence.
For others, suppressing their true gender identity over many years had led to problems with substance misuse, relationship difficulties or hypermasculinity.
Ms Frith’s study was commissioned internally by the prison service as part of work to advise on the safety and well-being of transgender people in custody.