Reform prison tsar: Trans women can be put in female jails
Vanessa Frake, a former prison governor who oversaw the detention of Rose West and Myra Hindley, has joined Nigel Farage's party.
She has previously criticised the Conservatives, arguing that the prison service is now 'on its knees' and that justice in Britain has become a 'laughing stock'.
In an interview to mark her appointment as an adviser, she said that trans women should not automatically be barred from women's prisons.
Ms Frake called for cases to be assessed 'on an individual basis' and said that sexual offenders may need to be held in a male facility.
She told The Times: 'There are equally vile women as there possibly are trans women. So it's all about the risk assessments for me, and each has to be done on an individual basis.'
The former governor, who also served as head of security at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, said trans prisoners she had overseen were 'accepted' by other inmates.
'People who want to just say a blanket ban clearly have never stepped foot in a prison and seen how prison runs and how see how risk assessments on individuals happen,' she added.
It is unclear whether her view will now become Reform UK's policy. Ms Frake's decision to join the party was announced at a press conference in Westminster on Monday.
In February, Mr Farage attacked 'transgender indoctrination' in Britain, but he has previously defended his record on trans rights, pointing to some trans people who had served as elected representatives in Ukip, his former party.
Asked if he agreed with Ms Frake's stance, Mr Farage said on Monday: 'I personally never worked in a prison, so I can't answer [that].
'But I think you'll find that the answer that you'll get from somebody who has worked in prisons at the highest possible level is, I think basically it's about risk assessment.'
Most trans women in male prisons
The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that trans women can be excluded from women-only spaces because equality law protecting women refers to biological sex. This means that trans women can be excluded from women's prisons.
Labour has said it will update its policy on transgender inmates 'in due course' after the Supreme Court ruling. The party has inherited the previous government's policy of not placing trans women prisoners convicted of violent or sexual crimes on the female estate.
Figures published last year show that two thirds of trans women prisoners are sex offenders.
Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, said earlier this year that the majority of trans women were already held in male prisons.
Prison service data for 2023-24 show there were 295 transgender prisoners in England and Wales. Of those, 51 were held in female prisons and 244 in male prisons.
Ms Mahmood told MPs: 'No trans women convicted of a rape or serious violence offence who retains birth genitalia would ever be considered for being placed in the women's estate.'
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