A women’s group is pushing for Victorian authorities to intervene and move a trans prisoner convicted of sex offences and with a “working” penis out of a Melbourne based female prison.
The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission has agreed to meet Corrections Victoria next month amid concerns raised by independent think-tank Women’s Forum chief executive Rachael Wong that the prisoner is currently at the Dame Phyllis Frost Correctional Centre in Victoria’s west.
The latest development came after reports female prisoners at the jail complained the inmate who committed sex offences against females while a man (sic) has been moved to the female centre.
On August 25, Ms Wong said her organisation and a group called the Coalition for Biological Reality contacted Corrections Minister Sonya Kilkenny, Women’s Minister Natalie Hutchins, Equality Minister Harriet Shing, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes and Premier Daniel Andrews along with the Victorian equal opportunity and human rights commission.
Ms Wong said Corrections Victoria made a “significant error in judgment” by allowing the inmate to be moved in her letter.
“Single sex prisons exist to protect the dignity, safety and privacy of female inmates. Placing trans identifying males in women’s prisons unacceptably exposes female prisoners to increased risks of harm and is a breach of their human rights,” the letter read.
Source: Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps
Your article states: “complained the inmate who committed sex offences against females while a man” could you please rephrase this as if he has a working penis he is definitely still a man! Or is the language specific to self id? Could you not say ‘while registered as a man’ or some such? It’s just galling as it is. You do wonderful work, so am sorry to have to point to this rare incident that comes across badly. Thank you.
I understand your concern. However, please note this is a news digest and does not generally contain original content by Feminist Legal Clinic. This post is an extract from an article by Angelica Snowden published in The Australian newspaper. I have edited the entry to make that clearer.