Sturgeon rejects blanket ban on rapists in female prison

Earlier this week, Isla Bryson, was housed in Cornton Vale's women's prison to await sentence after being convicted of raping two women.

Their crimes were committed when they were known as Adam Graham. The 31-year-old began identifying as a woman after they were charged.

They have not legally changed gender, and do not have a gender recognition certificate, though they are taking hormones and seeking surgery.

READ MORE: Isla Bryson: 'Transgender rapist should not have been in womens jail'

Following a fierce backlash, the First Minister announced on Thursday that Bryson was to be transported to the male wing of Saughton jail in Edinburgh.

After she announced the change, Ms Sturgeon said the decision on whether a male or female prison was appropriate was "not about whether they are trans or not" but rested on the individual being a "rapist and sex offender".

READ MORE: Sturgeon criticises motives of gender law critics

The First Minister told MSPs: “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 subjected to rigorous individual risk assessment and as part of that the safety of other prisoners is paramount.” 

She added: “In general terms, and perhaps most importantly, I heard the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland say this yesterday, ‘I don't see how it's possible to have a rapist within a female prison’. 

“And so let me be very clear, I agree with that statement. Bearing in mind what I've just said about the importance of individualised risk assessment, as a general principle and presumption I think that statement is correct.”

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon confirms trans rapist moved to male prison

Despite that presumption, when speaking to Global’s The News Agents podcast, Ms Sturgeon cautioned away from “a blanket approach”.

In the interview recorded shortly after First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Ms Sturgeon told the programme: “I've said very clearly today. I don't think it is, you know, I think as a general principle, somebody who rapes a woman should not be in a female prison. I've said it in Parliament.

“But I do think when we're dealing with the prison population, generally, there needs to be that risk assessment approach, because the danger of taking a blanket approach to anything, and I accept what people are saying, the blanket approach here, the danger of any blanket approach is you end up having a different effect to the one you want because you catch cases that should be dealt with in a different way.

“So I think the individualised risk assessment process is strong, but I do believe that is effectively what I said today, there should be a presumption that somebody who is convicted of rape is not in a woman's prison.”

“I think the processes that are there will make sure that the right outcome is arrived at,” she added.

Meanwhile, Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour Party leader, said Bryson should “absolutely not” have been kept in a women’s prison.

"It should never have been allowed to happen," she told broadcaster during a visit in Essex.

“And there are safeguards to ensure that doesn’t happen, so this shouldn’t have been in that position — every woman deserves to be safe and safeguarded.

“Those safeguards should have kicked-in and that person should not have been put into a women’s prison, absolutely not.”