Reform UK justice adviser says trans women shouldn’t be automatically banned from women’s prisons

Reform UK’s new justice adviser Vanessa Frake has said trans women should not automatically be banned from female prisons.

Frake told The Telegraph that instead they should be assessed “on an individual basis”. Those who had been convicted of sexual offences may be held in a male facility, she added.

A former head of security at Wormwood Scrubs prison in London, Frake made the comments in an interview to mark her appointment with Nigel Farage’s right-wing party.

“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,” said Frake, whose career involved overseeing the detention of infamous murders including Myra Hindley and Rose West.

“People who want a blanket ban clearly have never stepped foot in a prison and seen how prisons run and how risk assessments on individuals happen.”

Farage responded to Frake’s views by telling the Daily Mail: “I’ve never worked in a prison so I can’t answer. But I think you’ll find that the answer you’ll get from somebody who has worked in prisons at the highest-possible level is basically it’s about risk assessment.

“But in terms of the problems in prisons, it’s a relatively small one.”

A Reform UK spokesperson added that Franke’s opinion did not “constitute party policy”.

According to a report from the Ministry of Justice in November 2022, there were at least 230 trans prisoners in England and Wales, of which 187 reported their legal gender as male and 43 as female. The figures showed there were 168 trans women, 42 trans men and 13 non-binary individuals, while seven provided no response when asked about their specific identity.

The report noted there were 11 prisoners known to have a gender recognition certificate.

Of the 230 transgender prisoners, 181 were in male prisons, with 162 self-identifying as trans women, and 49 were in female prisons, with six self-identifying as trans women.

In Scotland, 0.2 per cent of the prison population was estimated to be trans.

Reform does not have the best record when it comes to the rights of LGBTQ+ people. The party’s policy document, “Our contract with you“, insists: “Transgender indoctrination is causing irreversible harm to children”, and pledges to ban so-called transgender ideology – a term used as an anti-trans dog whistle – in primary and secondary schools. It goes on to say: “No gender questioning, social transitioning or pronoun swapping… schools must have single-sex facilities.”

Following Reform’s success in the local elections in May, the party announced that the councils it now controls across England – Durham, Kent, Lancashire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Doncaster, North Northamptonshire, West Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire – would be banned from flying the Pride flag.

Kent County Council then removed trans-themed books from the children’s section of its libraries.

A recent YouGov poll showed that Reform, known for its anti-immigration, Eurosceptic and anti-trans policies, could do very well in the next general election, potentially even ousting Labour from power.

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