Unlawfully discriminates against women

In a lawsuit that has some parallels with the Keira Bell case last year – a push-back against trans ideology from someone who's had to suffer the consequences – a woman is making a legal challenge against the Ministry of Justice, and its policy of placing trans women in women's prisons:

Trans prisoners should be excluded from female wings because they are "disproportionately" likely to commit sexual assaults, the High Court has heard.

The Ministry of Justice's policy of placing trans women in women's prisons is being challenged by a prisoner who claims she was sexually assaulted behind bars.

FDJ, who cannot be identified, claims that in 2017 she was sexually assaulted in prison by a trans woman, known as J, who had convictions for "serious sexual offences against women". J was being housed in the general population of a women's prison.

FDJ’s lawyers claim that J has a gender recognition certificate (GRC), which is not admitted by the MoJ. As a result, they are arguing that the Government's policy of allocating trans inmates to prisons based on their declared gender identity unlawfully discriminates against women.

Speaking on the first day of the two-day remote hearing, Karon Monaghan QC, representing FDJ, told the court that trans inmates account for one per cent of the population of the women's estate but "they are responsible for 5.6 per cent of sexual assaults".

"There's a disproportionality," she said, adding that trans inmates are "more likely to be committing sexual assaults in the prison estate". She also quoted MoJ statistics detailing the population estimates for trans prisoners in England and Wales.

The hearing, taking place before Lord Justice Holroyde and Mr Justice Swift, was told that there were 125 trans prisoners in 2017, 60 of whom were serving sentences for sexual offences. Of those 60, 27 were serving a prison sentence for rape.

Ms Monaghan also told the hearing that, between 2016 and 2020, there were seven sexual assaults against females in women's prisons by trans women….

However, the MoJ argues that…its policies pursue legitimate aims, including "facilitating the rights of transgender people to live in and as their acquired gender (and) protecting transgender people's mental and physical health".

Protecting women's mental and physical health clearly comes much lower down the list of priorities.