Trans sex attacksSeven sexual assaults have been carried out by transgender prisoners in women’s jails, the Ministry of Justice has disclosed.The release of the figure has fuelled a debate over whether men who are transitioning to become women should be held in female prisons.A spokesman for the MoJ said that between 2010 and 2018, “out of the 124 sexual assaults that occurred in the female estate a total of seven were against females in custody perpetrated by transgender individuals”.The prisons where the attacks occurred were Bronzefield, Foston Hall, Low Newton, New Hall and Peterborough. None of the attacks were against staff.It was not made clear whether the assaults had been proven or the attackers punished. Nor was it disclosed whether the attackers were born as males and were transitioning to become women, or whether – like the majority of trans prisoners in the women’s estate – they were born as women and were transitioning to become men. Only those still transitioning were counted, not those who had already legally changed gender.Nicola Williams, director of the campaign group Fair Play For Women, told The Mail on Sunday: “These new figures are another warning about something everyone knows: Allowing males into female prisons is dangerous for women.”Since 2010, prisoners who have legally changed gender have automatically been sent to the appropriate prison for their new gender. The rules were altered in 2016 so that prisoners who are transitioning can apply to move. Requests are considered by Complex Transgender Case Boards, charged with ensuring that “checks and balances are in place to manage the risks both to the transgender prisoners themselves and others”. Last year seven male-born transitioning prisoners were admitted to female jails. Downview, a women’s prison, has a special unit where male-born transgender prisoners can sleep and shower while mixing with the main population in daytime activities.