Trans women BANNED from female jails after landmark court judgement in Scotland

Transgender women have been banned from female jails following a landmark court judgement in Scotland today.

In a resounding victory for For Women Scotland (FWS), Edinburgh judges quashed the SNP policy that permitted biological male offenders to share prisons with women.

Deeming the legislation unlawful, judges "comprehensively rejected" the nationalist party's bid to house male prisoners, who identify themselves as women, in jails for female convicts.

Current guidance allows perpetrators to be locked up in women's prisons according to their gender identity, rather than their biological sex, unless their conviction is linked to violence against women or girls.

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However, gender critics at FWS said that the legislation did not comply with the 2025 Supreme Court landmark ruling, which declared that gender was based on biological sex, not self-identification.

Holyrood ministers must now buckle to the latest ruling and oust any men from the nation's female prisons.

Lady Ross ruled that the law demands "separate prison accommodation for men and women" and reiterated the 2025 ruling meant that sex segregation in jails was according to biological sex.

"In so far as the Prisons Guidance allows the Scottish Prison Service to accommodate trans prisoners in prisons for the opposite biological sex, it is in conflict with the requirement that prison accommodation be provided separately for men and women," she said.

In a damning declaration, the judge said that the SNP's guidance translated to a "misstatement of the law" and that Scottish ministers were overstepping their powers.

Transgender individuals have protections over their personal autonomy and private life under the ECHR, but these rights do not extend to being entitled to being housed in a prison for the "opposite biological sex", she added.

Extreme cases, such as those in regards to suicide, could culminate in the allowance of housing prisoners in a prison for the opposite sex - but such "abstract" cases cannot dictate general legislation.

Following the victory, Susan Smith, the founder of FWS, said: "We are delighted to have won such a comprehensive victory in our judicial review on Scottish prison policy.

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"All the arguments from the Scottish ministers were comprehensively rejected by the court, not least their claim that housing trans-identified male prisoners in the male estate would breach their Convention rights.

"We hope that, in future, the Scottish Government will start to listen to us rather than the lobby groups who drafted these policies and have so egregiously misled MSPs and MPs.

"We should never have needed to take this case and we hope this will be the last time that we are forced to go to law to defend the rights of women.

"Ultimately, this is a victory for the very vulnerable women in the prison estate."

Joanna Cherry KC, an ex SNP MP, raved over the "great victory for the indomitable For Women Scotland".

"How much more taxpayers’ money is John Swinney prepared to waste on this failed misogynistic ideology?" she fumed. "Some female prisoners may well sue for damages."

A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: "We are grateful to Lady Ross for her judgement, which we will carefully consider, at pace, along with the Scottish Government.

"It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time."

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