20-05-2025
Female prison guards are having to strip search the top half of transgender criminals before male colleagues check their lower regions in bizarre new jail ruling
Female prison guards are having to strip search the top half of transgender inmates before male colleagues check their lower region, MailOnline has learned.
In a bizarre procedural ruling, jail guards are doubling up when searching transgender inmates who leave prison for hospital appointments or court appearances.
Trans criminals caged at HMP Dovegate have reported two female guards are used to check the top half of their bodies while two male colleagues check below the belt.
The inmates subjected to the searches say they feel 'humiliated and violated' by the additional checks by male officers, which leaves their confidence 'shattered'.
However, women's rights campaigners have this morning lashed out and accused the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of breaching the 'human rights' of female officers.
Kellie-Jay Keen, a gender-critical activist, insisted the Government should not 'be spending any resources on 'facilitating humiliated' trans prisoners behind bars.
Speaking to MailOnline, she added: 'I don't think those female officers should be subjected to searching them at all and I wonder if it infringes on the human rights of female prison officers and whether their employer is breaking the law.'
News of the searches was revealed in prison magazine Inside Times by an inmate at Dovegate - a category B male facility in Staffordshire, which houses 1,160 prisoners.
Prisoners at the cushy lock-up benefit from in-cell yoga and chess, a choir, and plots to grow vegetables and flowers.
The jail, which boasts of having the UK's only privately run purpose-built therapeutic facility, has also been ridiculed in the past for using 'therapy ducks' to help reform criminals.
Writing in their letter to Inside Times about their alleged treatment, the trans inmate said: 'The policy is that when either entering or leaving the prison for court, hospital appointments, etc, we have the top half of our body searched by two female officers, who will then leave us to get dressed. Then two male officers search the bottom half of our body.
'I have been subjected to these undignified and downright humiliating searches countless times. The negative impact that they have on my mental health is incredible.
'I feel humiliated, violated, and my confidence is shattered each time. Most, if not all, transgender people are self-conscious about their bodies, so forcing us to reveal our post- or mid-transition bodies is both inhumane and traumatic.
'Many trans people in and out of prison may feel the same as I do about these searches, so let's do something about it.'
The inmate has demanded that trans prisoners should instead be searched using an X-ray scanner, and said they have written to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
'An X-ray machine is arguably more thorough than a strip-search anyway and makes the process less traumatic for transgender women in prison,' they said, adding: 'This would save us the distress of having to strip naked from the waist down in front of two male officers.'
The prison is run by government security contractor, Serco.
Insiders have claimed transgender and searching policies are both national issues and not set by Serco.
'The body scanner is an additional search method and does not replace the search of prisoners,' an HMP Dovegate source added.
'Staff at HMP Dovegate recognise the sensitivity of the situation while being aware of the security considerations and as per the policy, the prisoner is informed of the need for the search and is involved in the decision making process as to the sex of the officers completing the search.'
Justice sources said checks at the jail are carried out in accordance with the national 'searching policy framework' and the 'care and management of individuals who are transgender policy framework'.
MailOnline understands these policies are being reviewed following a Supreme Court ruling last month about transgender people.
In a landmark legal decision that could have far-reaching consequences, the UK's most senior judges ruled the definition of a woman is based on biological sex.
