UK — London, England. Former prisons minister Rory Stewart has said female prison officers were raped by trans-identified male prisoners.

The former Conservative MP, who is standing as an independent candidate in the race for London Mayor, told GQ magazine that while he served in government there were, “situations of male prisoners self-identifying as females then raping staff in prison”.

While the case of Karen White is well known – a trans-identified male, born Stephen Wood, who raped female prisoners after being transferred to a women’s prison – this is the first time the rape of female prison officers has come to light.

Mr Stewart oversaw prisons and the probation service in England and Wales as Minister of State for Prisons between January 2018 and May 2019.

The revelation came when Stewart was asked about policies of self-identification allowing anyone who identifies as a woman to go into female-only spaces, such as changing rooms and toilets.

He replied: “I’m instinctively worried about that, partly because when I was Prisons Minister, we had situations of male prisoners self-identifying as females then raping staff in prison. So I think if someone is biologically male, particularly in an environment like a prison, we shouldn’t allow that to happen.

“We have to be pretty cautious about how we think that happens in other spaces.

“The important thing is: I think the rights of women to feel safe trump the rights of somebody who’s biologically male to enter that space.”

It was reported last year that one in 50 male offenders in prisons are self-identifying as transgender, according to the annual survey of the Chief Inspector of Prisons. The figure suggests there are up to 1,500 transgender inmates among the 90,000 prisoners in England and Wales, more than ten times previous estimates, and at least four times the number in the general population.

Four years ago, female officers in a prison in Scotland refused to carry out strip-searches on a 25-year-old trans-identified male, who had not undergone surgery or hormone treatment, but self-identified as female. Andrew Burns had previously demanded to be called Mighty Almighty, after changing his name.

According to the campaign group Fair Play for Women, in 2018 there were 22 male-born prisoners housed in women’s prisons and self-identifying as women.

A Freedom of Information request by the BBC in 2018 found that of 125 transgender inmates who had had case conferences, 60 were sex offenders, including:

27 were convicted of rape (plus a further five of attempted rape)

13 were convicted of possessing, distributing or making indecent images of children

13 were convicted of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault

Nine were convicted of causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity

Seven were convicted of sexual activity with a child

Seven were convicted of indecent assault or gross indecency

The numbers add up to more than 60 because some prisoners are serving time for more than one offence.

Update

A month later, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) appeared to refute Mr Stewart’s assertion. There have been “no reported incidents of any type of sexual assault against prison officers by trans prisoners,” the MoJ stated. The MoJ additionally revealed that male inmates who identify as transgender are raping female inmates at a disproportionately high rate.