Open letter to the Telegraph

 Letter to Editor at Daily Telegraph for Friday 30th October Written by Dr Kate Coleman, Director, Keep Prisons Single Sex

Dear Sir,

We are a group of barristers, academics, former and current prison and probation officers and others who are concerned that the rights of women in prison to single-sex spaces, as provided for in the Equality Act (2010) are not being met.

The Judicial Review heard in the High Court this week (R (FDJ) v SSJ) was brought by a female prisoner who reported that she was sexually assaulted by a male-bodied prisoner who had been convicted of rape and who had been imprisoned with her in the female estate. We believe that this case confirms the unacceptability of current prison policy and practice which is to house all male-born prisoners who have a Gender Recognition Certificate stating they are legally women in the female estate.

We note that the exceptions in the Equality Act found at Schedule 3, paragraphs 26, 27 and 28 and at Schedule 23, paragraph 3 allow for all males, notwithstanding possession of a Gender Recognition Certificate and notwithstanding protected characteristic of gender reassignment, to be excluded from single-sex spaces, services and communal accommodation for women, where this is a proportionate means to a legitimate aim. We consider the female prison estate to be a definitive example of a facility used by women that should be kept single sex. The vulnerability of female prisoners is an established fact since the Corston Report in 2007, and evidence throughout the Criminal Justice System shows that female offenders require female-only settings. We also note the recent statement by the Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss, Minister for Women and Equalities following the publication by the Government Equalities Office of the report on the Gender Recognition Act Consultation. This reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to the exceptions in the Equality Act that provide for single-sex spaces for women. All vulnerable prisoners have the right to be safe in prison, but the needs of one group of prisoners cannot come at a cost to the safety and wellbeing of women in prison.

We call upon the Ministry of Justice, HM Prisons and Probation Service and the Scottish Prisons Service to bring their policy and practice in line with the Equality Act.

Yours faithfully ....


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