Revised Trans Prison Policy in England & Wales

Bent Bars statement on new trans prison policy

28 February 2023

This week, the Ministry of Justice issued a new version of its policy framework on ‘The Care and Management of Individuals who are transgender’ which applies to prisoners in England and Wales. 

The updated policy includes a new presumption that any transgender woman who retains ‘birth genitalia’ (has not had lower surgery / genital surgery) will not be housed in women’s prisons unless there are exceptional circumstances. 

The Bent Bars Project is deeply concerned about this policy change, as it is likely discriminatory. Trans people outside prison face acute difficulties and long wait times in accessing gender-affirming health care (including lower surgeries) and these barriers are dramatically worse in prison. In our view, the new policy discriminates against those who are awaiting or unable to access health care.

The revised policy also includes a presumption that any trans woman with a current, historic or pending conviction for violent or sexual offences will not be housed in the general women’s prison estate. This is a significant shift away from the case-by-case risk assessment approach of the previous policy. In our view, this change is discriminatory. If the same requirement were applied to all women prisoners, a significant number of non-trans women prisoners (likely 20-30%) would also not be held in the general women’s prison estate.

We are also troubled by wider media reporting that has been overly focussed on the location of trans prisoners within the male and female prison estate, rather than attending to the risks and dangers that all transgender prisoners face and the need to address the safety and well-being of all prisoners.

We know that misleading and discriminatory news reporting on trans prisoners is having a particularly negative impact inside prisons, and is putting all LGBTQ+ and gender-diverse prisoners at greater risk of harassment, abuse, and harm. 

We would encourage the public to read our Trans Prisoner Info Sheets and our recent Trans Voices on Trans Prison Policy Report. 

Bent Bars will be issuing updated guidance on the rights of transgender prisoners - which will be available on our website soon.