Tens of thousands call for reversal of trans woman’s male prison sentence
By Nick Bond
Tens of thousands have signed an online petition calling on Bath Magistrates, the Prison Governor of HM Prison Bristol and the British judicial system to stop transgender woman Tara Hudson from being sent to an all-male prison.
There has been widespread community anger this week after magistrates ruled that despite undergoing gender reassignment surgery and living as a woman for her entire adult life, Tara Hudson’s passport still states she is male.
Hudson was sentenced to 12 weeks in a Category B Bristol men’s prison last Friday (October 23) after pleading guilty to assault at a bar last Christmas, sparking concerns for her safety and a campaign calling for her transferal to a women’s unit.
When we brought you the news yesterday, an online Change.org petition launched on behalf of Tara’s mother, Jackie, had amassed just over 6,000 signatures. Just 24 hours later, it is nearing 33,000 signatures – just shy of its 35,000 target.
“My 26 year old daughter, Tara Hudson, has recently been sentenced to 3 months in prison,” Jacki Brooklyn writes on the petition.
“She is transgender and has lived her whole adult life as a woman. Despite this she has been told by Bath Magistrates that she will serve her sentence in an all male prison.
“The Magistrates have said that because she is legally identified as male (on her passport), they can’t place her in a female prison. I know that transgender women are at high risk of abuse in male prisons and don’t want my daughter to suffer because of bureaucracy. That is why I am campaigning for the courts to be humane about this and place my daughter in an all female prison, where she belongs.”
You can sign the petition at Change.org.
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