An Australian think tank has launched a petition to ask the Victorian government to remove male prisoners identifying as female from women’s prisons.
It comes after prisoners at Victoria’s largest women-only prison called for the transfer of a transgender prisoner who has a history of sexual violence against women and children.
Rachael Wong, CEO of Women’s Forum Australia, an independent think tank conducting research about women’s issues, argued on Tuesday that allowing trans-identifying males to stay in women’s prisons “exposes female prisoners to increased risks of harm and is a breach of their human rights.”
“Single-sex prisons exist to protect the dignity, safety and privacy of female inmates,” she wrote in a newsletter sent to members….