Biological men still being housed in women’s jail despite trans ruling

While the prisoners' cells are in a separate ward from that of the biological females, all inmates mix during social hours in the daytime, such as education, religious services or social visits.

This is said to represent a "clear breach" of the regulations for single-sex spaces in the Equality Act.

Rebecca Paul, Conservative MP for Reigate, where HMP Downview is situated, claimed the inmates were mixing “without adequate supervision”.

With the wing still remaining six months after the Supreme Court ruling with the Equality Act that the definition of a woman must be based on biology, Ms Paul claimed it was “still knowingly and intentionally breaching the law".

Recently, Ms Paul had also implored Justice Secretary David Lammy to do the "lawful and responsible thing by ejecting all biological males from women’s prisons."

"We are a heartbeat away from a terrible tragedy. This is downright dangerous," she told the Daily Mail earlier this year.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also insisted that the Supreme Court ruling “must be implemented in full and at all levels”.

However, according to the Times, there is currently no plan to do so. Ministry of Justice sources have said that they are "still reviewing the implications" of the Supreme Court ruling.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “There has been no delay. This is a separate unit for transgender prisoners, which is isolated from the main female population.

“The vast majority of transgender women in prison are in men’s prisons and we are reviewing our transgender prisoner policy in light of the Supreme Court ruling.”

Despite this, former Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood was said to have been putting a plan in place to shift the five inmates on from HMP Downview and close the E wing - plans that were scrapped after she left the role to become Home Secretary in September.

Ms Mahmood was instead replaced by Mr Lammy, who is an outspoken supporter of trans rights. In 2021, he said that “there are some dinosaurs on the right” and also that “those dinosaurs exist in our own party” who want to “hoard rights” for trans individuals.

The news at HMP Downview is the latest prison crisis hitting Mr Lammy, after a third inmate was accidentally released from prison since the Justice Secretary vowed to ramp up measures.

He then admitted the system that tracked prison releases did not work, and they were unsure whether the prisoner had even been released accidentally, one week on. He had been, and was recaptured on November 11.

His accidental release came on November 3, just four days after new checks were introduced by the Deputy Prime Minister following the accidental release of Ethiopian asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu, who was convicted of five counts of sexual assault against two women, including a 14-year-old girl.

Following the recent confirmation of a fourth mistakenly released inmate, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Calamity Lammy didn’t know his Department had lost a prisoner for over a week. He’s asleep at the wheel!

“Since Lammy introduced his 'strongest ever checks', three prisoners have been mistakenly released.

"They’re failing, and the British people are being put at risk on a nearly daily basis as a result. There’s never been a better time to be a criminal."

It means 91 prisoners have been wrongly released from prison since April this year, leading No10 to admit the number was "shocking".

GB News has approached the Home Office for comment.