Gender and Prison
The placement of transgender prisoners raises questions about personal safety, the safety of fellow prisoners, legal sex registration and the role of medical transition.
Policy issue
The placement of transgender prisoners raises questions about personal safety, the safety of fellow prisoners, legal sex registration and the role of medical transition.
The Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the Custodial Institutions Agency takes gender identity into account when placing prisoners, weighing the risks on an individual basis. Legal sex registration plays a role but is not decisive. Information on how the Netherlands regulates placement and what it can learn from other countries is available at vrouwenruimtes.nl.
Internationally
Policies vary widely from country to country. In the United Kingdom, a number of incidents in 2023 led to stricter placement rules, under which prisoners with a history of sexual violence are generally not placed in women's prisons, regardless of their legal sex registration. In the United States, an appeals court blocked the placement of trans women in a women's prison in Oregon in 2026.
Cases that changed policy
Two British cases shaped the debate. Karen White, a convicted sex offender who identified as a woman, was placed in a women's prison in England in 2017 and sexually assaulted fellow prisoners there. In Scotland, Isla Bryson was initially sent to a women's prison in early 2023 after being convicted of two rapes. Following widespread outrage, Bryson was transferred to a men's prison, and the Scottish government amended its policy. The case is described in detail at genderellende.nl.
The balancing of interests
Transgender prisoners face an increased risk of violence and abuse in men's prisons. At the same time, female prisoners are a vulnerable group: many have previously been victims of sexual or domestic violence and cannot simply avoid a fellow prisoner. Prison services try to weigh these interests on a case-by-case basis. They consider the offence, behaviour, physical circumstances and how long the person has lived in their new role. Some countries use separate units.
Self-identification and detention
The debate is connected to the rules for changing legal sex registration. The easier it is to make that change, the less the registration says about where someone can be safely placed. Prison services therefore generally do not base placement solely on registration. In the United Kingdom, the Supreme Court ruling that the term woman in equality law refers to biological sex has also been relevant since 2025. The English-language news site Reduxx reports from many countries on cases where gender policy and prisons intersect. See trans people and women's safety, women's shelters and self-identification and the Dutch Transgender Act.