Prison governors have been put in an unenviable position of deciding the fate of transgender prisoners after the government tied itself in knots over the issue.
To date there are still no clear regulations from Scottish ministers about where transgender criminals should be accommodated, despite the public outrage over rapist Isla Bryson being placed in a women’s prison.
Bryson now believes their human rights have been breached by being housed in the male estate and subjected to transphobic slurs by other inmates and staff.
Bryson’s crimes are abhorrent – there is no disputing that and nobody would, or could, argue otherwise.
This problem is bigger than Bryson and, unfortunately for Humza Yousaf, it is not going away even if it has fallen down the news agenda for now.
It will continue to get worse the longer ministers leave it without any clear laws on how to handle extremely violent, dangerous prisoners who identify as an opposite gender to what they were registered as at birth.
It is simply not good enough for the Scottish Government to say it’s up to the Scottish Prison Service to decide and avoid taking real ownership of the mess that’s been created.
While the UK and Scottish governments prepare to do battle in court over the gender recognition reform issue, courts could soon begin filling up with cases of prisoners suing ministers for breaches of their human rights.
At a time when public money is desperately needed for vital services like the NHS and councils we cannot afford to be wasting it on compensation for vile criminals all because ministers can’t make up their minds on what to do.
The law must be clear and it must be resolved soon or Bryson could become the first of many convicted criminals to take advantage of this legal grey area.
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