Isla Bryson has complained of being treated like a monster after a fellow inmate was charged with a hate crime.
The trans double rapist claims human rights laws are being broken in letters to the Sunday Mail from behind bars.
Experts have warned government bungling over the case could result in the prison service being sued.
Bryson said: “This jail is full of transphobic people.”
Trans double rapist Isla Bryson claims the Scottish Prison Service and the Government have breached human rights laws after the convicted prisoner has become the subject of transphobic attacks.
Scotland’s most notorious inmate, who is living as a woman behind bars, claims they have been made out to be “a monster”. In letters sent to the Sunday Mail from jail, the double rapist who only transitioned while on bail, claimed to be a victim of hate crimes by staff and other prisoners and demanded cash for the “story of a lifetime”.
Bryson, who was born Adam Graham, said: “They are breaking the human rights laws. I’m not doing too good because of abuse from the staff members all because I am transgender and other prisoners too.
“This jail is full of transphobic people. The police are involved because of the abuse to do with my gender. People won’t stop being transphobic.”
Now serving eight years in HMP Edinburgh, the 31-year-old complained to police in relation to a hate crime earlier this month and a 24-year-old man has been charged. There was public outrage after Bryson was sent to Stirling’s Cornton Vale women’s prison in February after being convicted of raping two women he’d met as a man on online dating sites.
Bryson sent a prison visitation slip inviting our reporter to organise a visit to HMP Edinburgh “for a chat”.
The rapist wrote: “If you want to interview me it will cost you £1000. If you refuse then that’s on you. I am not doing it for free so you can twist my words. So take it or leave it your choice.
“If you accept then please hand the money in to the staff in the prison. I have put a visit request slip in so you can fill out the slip and let me know what day suits you.”
Bryson wrote: “Whatever I say you will make me out to be a monster” before adding, “so this way I get something out of it”.
The father of three, who has been married, promised “the story of a lifetime”. In the notes, signed off as “Isla”, the rapist includes the drawing of a smiley face – often resembling a woman with long hair.
Legal sources said Bryson could have legal grounds against the Scottish Government over the prison placement and human rights violations. Bryson is serving time on the Hermiston wing of HMP Edinburgh which houses some of the prison’s most serious offenders.
The rapist could argue a breach under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act and a “right to a private life” as a transitioning prisoner placed in a male estate.
The legal source said: “The reality is that Bryson could probably set up an argument in relation to a breach of her article 8 rights in respect to privacy on the basis that she should be in the female prison estate given that she is transitioning. However, it would be necessary to show that the regulations which the Scottish Government has introduced were not necessary or not proportionate so as to override her rights.”
The row over Bryson’s conviction erupted weeks after the Scottish Parliament passed the controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill – to make it easier for people to change gender. In January, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack used a Section 35 order to block the introduction of the controversial reforms becoming law.
The Scottish Prison Service carried out an urgent review of the Bryson case and made recommendations that include initially placing all new transgender prisoners in accommodation determined by their birth gender. Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon previously tied herself in knots by refusing to say whether Bryson was a woman or man.
But in March, Humza Yousaf, who later replaced Sturgeon, said the rapist was “at it”.
Speaking at that time as a candidate on the BBC’s SNP leadership debate, Yousaf said: “Isla Bryson is a rapist who’s completely at it, I don’t think they’re a genuine trans woman, I think they’re trying to play the system.”
Rhona Hotchkiss, a former governor for Cornton Vale, said Bryson’s initial placement in a female prison could have been avoided.
She said: “Bryson was initially sent from court to a female prison but once there, was held in the ‘Separation and Reintegration Unit’ also known as ‘segregation’. Scottish Prison Service policy is to hold individuals in the prison that matches their self-identified ‘gender’ but also that will depend on a risk assessment.
“The SPS will doubtless say Bryson was moved to a male prison following that risk assessment which could hardly fail to point to the ongoing risk he poses to women since he had just been convicted of the rapes of two women. It is difficult to see which of Bryson’s Human Rights has been breached here by putting him in a male prison, since SPS policy has been followed and no one has suggested that the policy itself breaches the Human Rights of trans-identified people.
“Bryson’s rights in relation to ‘segregation’ might have been breached since there was no need to have ever placed him there. He could have been placed in a protection unit in a male prison throughout the assessment process. The Scottish Government could and should prevent a repeat of this debacle, by ensuring SPS Policy is to always hold males – trans-identified or otherwise – who have committed sexual and/ or violent crimes against females in male prisons.”
Bryson was convicted of raping one woman in Clydebank in 2016 and another in Drumchapel in 2019. The court had heard Bryson is taking hormones and seeking surgery to complete gender reassignment having felt transgender at four years old. In February Bryson’s mum Janet, 63, said she was never aware of Bryson’s desire to transition growing up.
She said: “He’s my son, I gave birth to him so I know and I can say he is a man.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “On June 8, we received a report of a hate crime at HMP Edinburgh. A 24-year-old man has been charged in connection with threatening and abusive behaviour. .”
The Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Government said they did not comment on individual cases.
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