The Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman could “gravely affect very vulnerable prisoners”, a solicitor said.
The comments follow the judgment by the UK’s highest court on Wednesday, that the definition of a woman in equality law is based on biological sex, meaning transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces if “proportionate”.
Latest prison service data for 2023/24 shows there were 295 transgender prisoners in England and Wales, with 51 in female prisons and 244 in male prisons.
Of the transgender prisoners in the male estate, 225 self-identified as transgender female, while 48 inmates in the women’s estate self-identified as transgender male.
Maya Grantham, senior associate solicitor for Leigh Day, said the Supreme Court ruling would not affect hundreds of prisoners but it could “gravely affect very vulnerable prisoners quite severely”.
As of March 31 last year, 10 prisoners were known to have a gender recognition certificate, who were not included in the transgender prisoner data detailed by the prison service’s offenders equalities report.
Ms Grantham said: “A lot of transgender people are incredibly vulnerable and the male estate does pose quite significant problems to anyone who is vulnerable.
“It’s completely unsuitable for someone living as a woman.”
She added: “There’s a lot of physical and sexual violence in male prisons and we are placing vulnerable people in that environment.
“It just feels like a massive step back to be treating them according to sex when we know that transgender people are vulnerable.
“It’s not that this is going to be a widespread issue that affects hundreds of people, but it’s a change that could very gravely affect very vulnerable prisoners quite severely.”
The ruling comes after policy changes came into force in February 2023, and under the changes, transgender women who are sentenced to custody cannot be held in the women’s estate if they retain male genitalia or have been convicted of a violent or sexual offence – unless in the most exceptional cases.
There is one transgender prisoner unit in the prison estate, at HMP Downview, in Sutton, which is designed to hold trans women deemed to be too high risk to be accommodated in women’s prisons, but also at risk from other inmates in male jails.
A Government spokesperson said: “This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers.
“This Government remains unwavering in its protection of women.”
