Scot Govt forced to impose blanket ban on housing men in women’s prison

All men who identify as women are to be removed from women’s jails in Scotland, following a Court of Session ruling against the Scottish Government’s transgender prison policy.

Since February 2024, in keeping with Scottish Prison Service guidance, men who hold a Gender Recognition Certificate have been eligible for admission or transfer to a women’s prison if they do not have a record of “violence against a female”.

But last week, following a legal challenge to the policy by For Women Scotland, Lady Ross concluded that the legislative framework requires “sex segregation in prisons according to biological sex” and declared the guidance “unlawful”.

Victory for vulnerable women

Welcoming the ruling, For Women Scotland’s Susan Smith said: “We should never have needed to take this case and we hope this will be the last time that we are forced to go to law to defend the rights of women. Ultimately, this is a victory for the very vulnerable women in the prison estate.”

On Tuesday, Justice Secretary Neil Gray said: “Following careful consideration of Lady Ross’s judgment, we accept the ruling and have decided not to appeal.”

He added: “The Scottish Prison Service withdrew their Transgender Policy yesterday, and work is under way to implement transfers of prisoners today.”

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson confirmed that it had “taken immediate action to withdraw the policy and will manage people in accordance with their biological sex”.

Safeguarding failure

Earlier this year, former prison governor Rhona Hotchkiss highlighted the case of Alan Baker — now using the name Alexandra Stewart — who was at the time housed on the women’s wing at HMP Greenock. Although he did not have a history of violence against women, he has now been charged with sexual assault against a female inmate.

Hotchkiss, Governor of Cornton Vale in Stirling until 2017, said: “Stewart had not committed crimes of violence against women so he’d be ‘eligible’ under SPS policy, to be in the female estate.

“He was regarded by some staff as a good example of why a blanket ban on trans males in the women’s estate would be unnecessary and cruel. That reasoning and the exceptions built into the SPS policy should be deleted today.”

Last April, the UK’s highest court ruled in favour of FWS’s challenge to Scottish Government guidance that allowed men to take women-only positions on company boards. Justices said that the terms ‘woman’, ‘man’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex.