Transgender prisoners sent to jails according to biological sex

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has withdrawn its transgender policy, first implemented in 2014, which permitted transgender prisoners to be housed in a prison aligned with their gender identity, rather than their biological sex.

Last Friday, Judge Lady Ross ruled that placing inmates in custody based on their gender-identity was unlawful. The Scottish government confirmed that they would not be appealing this ruling.

This marks a successful end to a campaign led by For Women Scotland (FWS), to end prison placements based on gender-identity. The question of transgender prisoners made widespread headlines after the scandal in 2023, where double rapist, Adam Graham, transitioned to become Isla Bryson, and was allowed to be held in a women’s jail, despite only transitioning after committing the crimes.

The SPS continued to house trans men in women’s jails if they weren’t seen to pose a threat to the female prisoners, angering campaign groups such as FWS. In April 2025, FWS had seen success in the Supreme Court, where it was made clear that the term ‘woman’ in the Equality Act referred purely to a biological woman – something that FWS had been fighting for.

After the April Supreme Court ruling, male-bodied prisoners were still able to remain in female prisons, with Meghan Gallacher, Scottish Conservative equalities spokeswoman, saying that ‘out-of-touch' SNP ministers were fighting a court case that was ‘doomed from the start’, and that their ‘reckless decision continued to put vulnerable women prisoners at risk’.

Practical steps are now seemingly being taken to properly implement the outcomes of the ruling, and FWS spokeswoman, Susan Smith, has stated that the Government has ‘accepted the inevitable’ and that the FWS will stand ready to assist in any future disagreements.

At CARE, we believe that society can only be ordered around biological sex, as a source of objective truth, rather than the subjective truth of gender identity. Whilst care needs to be taken to protect all those in prisons - including transgender prisoners - no ideology should put vulnerable women at risk, and studies have repeatedly shown that biological males are more likely to commit sexual assault against women.