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Specialist prison units for violent or sexual ‘Trans women’ offenders 

From the 27/02/23, transgender women with male genitalia will no longer be housed in mainstream women’s prisons.

The new policy will apply irrespective of whether transgender women produce a valid ‘Gender Recognition Certificate’, although in the most exceptional of cases, exemptions will still apply.

Transgender women convicted of violent or sexual offences or retaining male genitalia will now serve their sentence in specialist prison units, if they cannot be safely housed in a men’s prison.

For further details:

New transgender prisoner policy comes into force – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Update on changes to transgender prisoner policy framework – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

New MoJ transgender prisoner policy: Sex Matters’ response – Sex Matters (sex-matters.org)

If you are affected by the above policy announcement you might wish to speak to one of our lawyers in confidence. Please contact the Public Defender Service at any one of our four offices. We are available 24hours a day, 365 days of the year.

Cheltenham: 01242 548270

Darlington: 01352 289480

Pontypridd: 01443 629724

Swansea: 01792 633 280