The transgender prisoner population rose from 70 in March-April 2016 to 125 a year later

The number of transgender prisoners in English and Welsh jails has risen almost 80% in a year, official figures published by the Ministry of Justice revealed last week.

They show the transgender prisoner population has increased from 70 in March-April 2016 to 125 by the same time this year.

The figure is likely to understate the true number of transgender inmates because it does not include offenders who have been through the two-year process to gain a gender recognition certificate (GRC), official acknowledgment that they have changed gender. These inmates are mostly housed in prisons of their chosen gender.

The figures are not broken down by offence but James Barrett, a consultant at Charing Cross Hospital who is president of the British Association of Gender