Transgender women are still being jailed in a women's prison despite a Supreme Court ruling that sexes must be segregated.
A group of five transgender prisoners are being held in HMP Downview in Surrey, sparking fresh concerns that they pose a potential risk to other inmates.
Activists have said the wing is not effectively separated from the rest of the building, and are calling on Justice Secretary David Lammy to bar transgender prisoners from being held there.
They argue this year's Supreme Court ruling that segregation between men and women should be on the basis of biological sex rather than their chosen gender identity.
A spokesman for Labour Women’s Declaration, which campaigns for sex-based rights, said: "Vulnerable female prisoners must be prioritised.
"Housing male offenders, regardless of how they identify, in the female estate violates the rights and safety of women prisoners and breaches the Supreme Court ruling.
"It has now been five months since it was clarified that sex in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex.
"If he chooses to act decisively, Secretary of State for Justice David Lammy has an important opportunity to both ensure the safety of women in custody and reaffirm Labour’s commitment to defending women’s rights. We trust he will make the right choice."
The five prisoners are being kept at HMP Downview, a female prison in Sutton, Surrey
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A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said that although trans prisoners were separated, in some circumstances they may join supervised activities, but only after a rigorous local risk assessment.
All the prisoners during these activities are supervised by prison staff.
A spokesman added: "This is a separate unit for transgender prisoners, isolated from the main female population and only has access to the wider prison’s regime under exceptional circumstances following robust risk assessments and they are subject to constant direct supervision,” he said.
"The vast majority of trans women in prison are in men’s prisons and we are reviewing our transgender prisoner policy in light of the Supreme Court ruling."
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Bryson, previously known as Adam Graham, raped two women in 2016 and 2019, and was convicted of those offences in 2023.
He was charged under the name Adam Graham, later going by the same name in court in 2019. However, in 2020, Bryson came out as transgender.
The wing for trans women at HMP Downview was opened in 2019, but a number of trans women were moved away in the wake of the Bryson case.
HMP Downview has attracted attention over its E Wing
|GETTY
Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones told the Commons: "As of August 1, 2025, five biologically male prisoners were held at HMP/YOI Downview. All were accommodated on E Wing.
"Since July 4, 2024, seven prisoners have been placed in the unit. No prisoners have moved from E Wing into the general women’s estate under the current Government.
"E Wing is not part of the general women’s estate. Prisoners on E Wing are held separately from other prisoners at HMP/YOI Downview and can only access the wider prison’s regime where this is supervised by staff and has been risk-assessed to ensure safety.”
However, the prison’s independent monitoring board has found that a shortage of staff meant it was not possible to ensure biologically male prisoners are supervised properly.
Alex Davies-Jones said five biologically male prisoners were being held in the Surrey prison
| HOUSE OF COMMONSDirector of campaigns at sex-based rights charity Sex Matters Fiona McAnena told The Telegraph: "It’s essential that women’s prisons are kept single-sex for the dignity, safety and privacy of female prisoners, most of whom have also been victims of violent and sexual crimes at the hands of men.
"Instead, they are met with silence on the scandal of female prisoners being forced to share facilities with men.
"Lammy is the politician who infamously branded women fighting for sex-based rights as 'dinosaurs hoarding rights', a remark he has never withdrawn.
"Given the Government’s refusal to act decisively in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, is it any wonder that women are worried? On prisons, and across the board, ministers must stop treating women’s rights and safety as an afterthought. Pretending the issue will somehow disappear is not leadership."