IN many ways, transgender people are prisoners in their own bodies for some time.

But once they accept their gender dysphoria, they are released to live their lives as a man or a woman, the way they felt they were always meant to.

However if a trans person is thrown in prison, their gender is decided for them.

The case of Clayton James Palmer, 38, made headlines this week after the transgender woman was arrested and forced to serve her sentence in a male prison in Western Australia.

Palmer is a prostitute and was accused of infecting a Perth man with HIV after having unprotected sex between January and August last year.

Palmer, who advertised her services under the name Sienne Fox, was allegedly diagnosed with HIV about a year before having unprotected sex and she missed a follow-up medical appointment.

She is currently sitting in prison but people on the outside fear for her time in jail and what living among males could do to her mental state.

It is not far removed from the storyline out of Netflix series Orange is the New Black, but it’s a reality a lot of transgender people face.

Just last year, transgender woman Tara Hudson spent a week in an all-male prison in Gloucestershire, where she was reportedly tormented.

She was moved to a female prison after 150,000 people signed a petition.

Hudson’s lawyer Nicholas Wragg said his client was locked in a cell at the male prison for 23 hours a day.

Her mother said her daughter wouldn’t be safe if she was not in a female environment.

“There’s nothing male about her, nobody would know the difference. She looks like a woman. She's gorgeous,” the mother said.

“We think it’s totally outrageous. I don’t think she will cope well at all. I just feel the men are going to go after her. It’s going to be humiliating.”

Then there’s the case of Vicky Thompson who was found dead in an all-male jail in Armley in November last year.

Her lawyer was pushing to get her into a female prison as Thompson told friends she would kill herself if she had to serve her sentence in a male prison.

There are many similar cases in America but there has been one woman prisoner in particular, CeCe McDonald, who has gained worldwide attention for fighting for the rights of transgender people.

Ms McDonald could almost be confused with Laverne Cox’s character in Orange is the New Black — she’s chic with her long manicured nails and lengthy locks.

Her story about being on the inside is far less glamorous, but her prison sentence was just the start of a long political journey.

Ms McDonald was jailed for defending herself against a group that hurled transphobic and racial slurs in her direction in June 2011.

In a fit of rage and adrenaline, she fatally stabbed someone who was physically assaulting her.

She was sentenced to 41 months behind bars in a male prison.

A documentary, Free CeCe, is being created with Laverne Cox to explore injustices in prison systems across the world.

Australian transgender advocate Joanna Ferrari believed society needed to re-evaluate its rules with transgender people in prisons.

“I don’t think it is fair to put a female in with males,” she said.

“I say female, because transgender women are not seen or treated as women yet, but we are female.

“The challenge in my opinion, the world thinks it has to abide by old laws and we threaten those laws, so while it’s wrong, it’s also what the narrow-minded rules describe as right.

“It’s hard to get people to respect or accept transgender when they won’t get past stereotypes and fears and old laws.”

Ms Ferrari said until transgender men and women were considered “people” with human rights, sending transgender females to a male prison for example will remain in the courts as the right thing to do.