A look inside Britain’s first prison wing dedicated exclusively to transgender inmates reveals a facility where prisoners have access to a £10,000 games wall, television screens, and the freedom to leave their cells at will.
Prison authorities purchased a £10,000 “energy wall” gadget for Britain’s sole dedicated unit for high-risk transgender women prisoners, yet it remains largely unused by the few inmates housed there. This specialized unit, located at Downview women’s prison in Sutton, Surrey, was established in 2019 following the case of Karen White, a transgender woman with male anatomy who sexually assaulted two female inmates while on remand at HMP New Hall in West Yorkshire.
The E Wing of Downview currently accommodates between three and five transgender women at any given time, despite its capacity for 16 inmates. This capacity is maintained even as Britain faces a shortage of prison spaces.
Downview’s E Wing, the dedicated unit for transgender women—individuals who were born biologically male but possess a gender recognition certificate (GRC) identifying them as female—was established to house these inmates separately from the general prison population. These transgender women are sometimes held temporarily in men’s prisons while awaiting transfer to Downview, where they are required to be kept apart from other prisoners.
The independent monitoring board (IMB) for the jail has criticized the unit’s regime as “limited and unstructured,” noting that inmates have the freedom to leave their cells whenever they choose and often spend their time watching television. The IMB also questioned the justification for installing the £10,000 “energy wall,” an interactive gadget designed to enhance reaction times, memory, speed, and fitness, especially given the current financial constraints. The board raised concerns about the value of such an expenditure when the unit’s small number of inmates do not appear to use the device extensively.
Emma Wilson, chair of the Downview Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), commented on the challenges faced by the prison, noting the significant impact of the increasing population across the women’s estate. She highlighted the complexities arising from a diverse mix of prisoners and the near-doubling of acutely mentally unwell women arriving at Downview, who would be more appropriately placed in a secure psychiatric facility.
Wilson praised the compassion and professionalism of the prison staff in supporting these women but emphasized that prison staff are not adequately trained to treat or support severe psychiatric cases. She pointed out that segregation conditions are fundamentally unsuitable for housing such vulnerable prisoners.
Currently, transgender women with a history of sexual or violent offenses are generally incarcerated in prisons that correspond to the sex they were assigned at birth. This means that a transgender woman with male anatomy is typically held in a men’s prison. However, Downview, a women’s prison, includes a specialized unit (E Wing) intended for transgender women who hold a gender recognition certificate (GRC) stating their gender as female.
These transgender women are sometimes temporarily housed in men’s prisons while awaiting transfer to Downview, but regulations require that they be kept separate from the general prison population during this time.
