According to a report published by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) last week, there were 11 trans women and five trans men in Scottish prisons at the end of June 2022.

Of the 11 trans women, six were held in men’s prisons and five were held in women’s prisons. Of the five trans men, one was held in a men’s prison and four were held in women’s prisons.

Almost all of the prisoners were held in single cells, while one trans woman was residing in a double cell in a men’s prison.

The report states: “SPS defines social gender as the gender in which a person lives their day to day life. It may differ from the gender assigned at birth, which is the gender a person was originally registered as on their birth certificate. Non-binary individuals identify themselves as having no gender or as being on a gender spectrum between man and woman.

“In Quarter 1, 7,177 individuals in our care identified themselves as men and another 274 as women. Trans men and trans women comprised 0.07 per cent and 0.15 per cent of the prison population, respectively. Only 0.01% identified themselves as non-binary.”

It adds: “Men and women are housed in their respective estates. When someone is transitioning, the SPS takes a person-centred risk informed decision about the placement and management of that individual. For this reason some individuals are located with their social gender and some are not.”

The report identifies the vast majority of prisoners as being male (96.10 per cent), heterosexual (92.35 per cent), having a marital status of single (78.71 per cent) and being white (94.75 per cent).