Question reference: S5W-26837
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 6 January 2020
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 January 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners identified as falling within the Scottish Prison Service Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy have never requested accommodation according to self-declared identity in a (a) men’s or (b) women’s prison.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
SPS is currently unable to provide information on transgender people who are no longer in our care.
However, I can advise that on Wednesday 8 January 2020 there were 14 people in Scottish prisons who were identified on the Prisoner Records System as having engaged, at some stage, in the gender reassignment process. This number includes 3 people who had previously began the gender reassignment process but who now identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.
Of those currently in SPS care, 3 transwomen have never requested to be accommodated according to their identified gender.
Decisions on the most appropriate location to accommodate transgender people in our care are made on an individualised basis after careful consideration of all relevant factors, including risk.