Prison chiefs to provide regular updates on transgender inmate numbers for first time in Scotland

Scottish prison chiefs are to provide regular updates on the number of transgender inmates in its jails for the first time, it can be revealed.

Until now, information on the number of trans prisoners in Scottish prisons was difficult to obtain and only available via Freedom of Information [FOI] laws.

But following new guidance issued by the Scottish Government’s chief statistician Roger Halliday on the collection and publication of data on 'sex, gender identify, trans status' to all public bodies, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is to provide regular figures on the number of trans prisoners in custody.

HMP Low Moss prison near Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

In a letter to leading policy analysts MurrayBlackburnMackenzie (MBM), Sue Brookes, SPS interim director of strategy and stakeholder engagement, revealed from this month prison bosses are to publish a "snapshot of transgender prisoners" on a quarterly basis.

In November, it was revealed under FOI laws that 12 trans prisoners, all of whom had convictions for violence and or sexual crimes, had been accommodated in Scottish women’s jails within in the previous 18 months.

Ms Brookes disclosed that, as of January, there were 12 transgender prisoners in custody – nine transgender women and three transgender men. Five of the transgender women – men identifying as women – were accommodated in women’s prisons and four were accommodated within the men’s estate.

Ms Brookes said of the three transgender men in custody – women identifying as men – two were accommodated in the men’s estate and one within the women’s estate.

She pointed out Scotland’s prison population constantly fluctuates and stressed any information gathered was only accurate at the point it is obtained from the prison records system.

In addition, she has claimed "people do have the right to change their mind about the way their gender identity is recorded at any time", making the numbers "susceptible to change".

Former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill said it showed "the absurdity of self-identification", adding female prisoners "feel threatened and are being psychologically damaged" by the presence of male-bodied prisoners.

Dr Kate Coleman, director of the campaign group Keep Prisons Single Sex, (KPSS) insisted prisoners’ birth sex should be recorded "as standard".