A double rapist who now identifies as a woman won’t serve her sentence at Stirling’s Cornton Vale women’s prison despite being sent there this week.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed yesterday (Thursday) that Isla Bryson, who is due to be sentenced on February 28, would not serve her sentence at the jail.
Bryson, a transgender woman who was this week found guilty of raping two women while she was a man known as Adam Graham, was sent to the women’s prison on Tuesday.
However, the issue had sparked a furore.
A former governor of Cornton Vale was among those questioning why a rapist was ever sent there.
Rhona Hotchiss told STV News this week: “I am absolutely clear about the fact that they should be in a male prison – you simply cannot have someone like this terrorising women.
“I understand they are being held in segregation or isolation, however that can’t be sustained for more than 72 hours without the permission of Scottish ministers.
“I think I make of the situation what most reasonably-minded people would, it’s appalling.
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“The thought that a double rapist can identify their way into a women’s prison should shock everyone.”
Yesterday (Thursday) at First Minister’s Questions, Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that Bryson’s sentence would not be served at Cornton Vale and that she agreed with the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, who had said she did not see how it was possible to have a rapist within a women’s prison.
The First Minister added that, in general, any prisoner who poses a risk of sexual offending is segregated from other prisoners including while a risk assessment is carried out.
She said: “There is no automatic right for a trans woman convicted of a crime to serve their sentence in a female prison even if they have a gender recognition certificate.
“Every case is subject to rigorous individual risk assessment and the safety of other prisoners is paramount.”
But Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross MSP, criticised the fact that “absolute beast” Bryson was ever in Cornton Vale at all and claimed legislation allowed Scottish Ministers to intervene despite the First Minister’s comments about allowing the Scottish Prison Service time to carry out its operational duties.
Bryson, from Clydebank, first appeared in court as Adam Graham in 2019 and was later named in court papers the following year – around the time she decided to transition – as Isla Annie Bryson.
It was under the identity of Bryson that she was found guilty of the rapes at the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday.
The 31-year old was remanded in custody and taken to Cornton Vale.
The six-day trial at the High Court in Glasgow heard Bryson, who denied the charges, raped two women: one in Clydebank in 2016 and one in Glasgow, in 2019.
