Trans jail ban sparks outrage amid inmate safety debate
A move to bar transgender women from women’s prisons in one region has been criticized amid debate about the security risk to inmates.
Northern Territory Prime Minister Lia Finocchiaro said, “If you are born a man, you go to a men’s prison,” and announced that only women should be housed in women’s prisons.
The territory is the first Australian jurisdiction to enact such a policy.
Ms Finocchiaro said the Liberal Party government had adopted a common sense approach following correspondence from the conservative think tank Australian Women’s Forum.
The forum wrote a letter to the prime minister and all state and territory leaders protesting that male offenders were being allowed into women’s prisons “under the guise of gender identity”.
Forum CEO Rachael Wong called for the practice to be banned, saying it posed a safety risk to women in prisons.
He cited a recent case of sexual assault in South Australia in which a female prisoner was forced to share a cell with a transgender prisoner who had a history of violence against women.
Ms Finocchiaro said after receiving the forum’s letter she tasked the NT’s corrections minister and commissioner with strengthening government policy and that a “proper classification process” was now in place.
“This has resulted in zero men being placed in women’s prisons, and this will continue under my watch,” she said in a statement.
“The former Labor government allowed crime to spiral out of control but still found time to adopt a woke transgender prisoner policy where self-declaration was sufficient.”
Ms Wong praised the Finocchiaro government for its “decisive action”.
The Australian Christian Lobby called on the SA government on Wednesday to ban “biological males” from women’s prisons.
However, transgender and justice advocacy groups harshly criticized the move.
Justice and Equality Center policy and advocacy director Alastair Lawrie said the NT government’s decision to place trans women in men’s prisons was discriminatory and wrong.
“Prisoners should be housed in prisons that match their gender identity,” he told AAP on Wednesday.
“Trans women are women and should be in women’s prisons. Trans men are men and should be in men’s prisons.”
Mr Lawrie said prisons had always managed risk and should do so on the basis of risk, based on gender identity and without political interference.
“Prisons have a responsibility to prevent sexual assault against people in their care, and this can and should be done without discrimination.”
Mr Lawrie said there was no evidence to support claims that trans women were more prone to violence.
“It is clear that a person with a history of sexual violence against women should not be placed in the same cell as another woman.”
Justice Not Prisons said transgender women in men’s prisons face disproportionately high rates of sexual assault and physical violence, as well as verbal abuse from guards.
Vital Collective, which represents sisters, brothers and the LGBTIQAP+ community, said Ms Finocchiaro mislabelled trans women as men.
“The Prime Minister is implying that sorority girls and trans women are somehow inherently more violent,” a spokesman said in a statement.
The group said such comments by the prime minister were inaccurate, amplified anti-trans hatred and increased the risk of violence against the gender diverse community.
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