The Western Australian Supreme Court has ruled that a transgender woman with a history of violent offending should remain in a male prison for the time being.
The state government asked the Supreme Court to set aside a ruling from the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT), which ordered that the woman be moved to a female facility. The tribunal had ruled that she had the right to be housed in a women’s prison while pursuing a discrimination complaint through the Equal Opportunity Commission.
Government lawyers asked the Supreme Court to suspend the SAT decision until an appeal is heard. On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Craig Bydder granted the Department a stay of the SAT ruling, meaning the woman will remain in her current placement until the matter is resolved.
The judge, however, suggested authorities should begin preparing for a possible transfer.
Details of the prisoner’s identity cannot be published because of concerns for her safety if other prisoners discover she is legally recognised as a woman. The court was told she has previously been assaulted and has sought a transfer on safety grounds.
The court heard the prisoner began gender transition shortly after being sentenced and has undergone hormone therapy and extensive psychological treatment. She successfully obtained a Gender Recognition Certificate from the Gender Reassignment Board, which was later disbanded when the Cook Government updated the Gender Recognition Act in 2024.
Rainbow Futures WA, the state’s peak body for LGBTIQA+ communities, said the state has a responsibility to ensure a safe environment for all prisoners.
“The state has not protected her, and she continues to be at risk in her current environment. Her conviction does not make her abuse acceptable, and it does not make the state’s obligation to her safety any less real.”
The organisation criticised the government’s legal position and argued the prison system was not equipped to make individualised, evidence-based assessments for vulnerable prisoners.
A state government spokesperson acknowledged Friday’s decision, saying “the safety of all staff and prisoners within WA prisons will remain our priority”.
Australian Christians MP criticises gender laws
Australian Christians leader Maryka Groenewald said gender recognition reforms introduced in 2024 had contributed to the legal circumstances underpinning the prisoner’s case.
In a social media post, Groenewald said: “The unfortunate truth is, thanks to Labor’s law, that man has a legal right to be placed in a women’s prison.”
OUTinPerth subsequently contacted the MP’s office and noted that the prisoner had transitioned under legislation introduced during the Richard Court Liberal Government in the early 2000s. Policies relating to transgender prisoner placement were introduced in 2020, before the 2024 amendments to the Gender Recognition Act.
A spokesperson for Groenewald said the original post had been “slightly unclear”.
“What we were trying to say was that we believe that, because of the Gender Self-ID bill, the legal justification exists for this man to be transferred.”
Groenewald later added that while people experiencing gender dysphoria should be treated with compassion, she opposed legal recognition for transgender people and gender-related “interventions” for children.
Housing Transgender Prisoners Remains a Complex Policy Issue
The placement of transgender prisoners remains a challenging issue internationally.
In 2019, the United Kingdom established a dedicated prison wing for transgender inmates. However, a policy introduced in 2023 stated that transgender women could not be housed in women’s prisons if they retained male genitalia or had been convicted of violent or sexual offences. The policy applied regardless of whether an individual held a Gender Recognition Certificate.
In 2025, the Northern Territory introduced a policy requiring prisoners to be housed according to their sex recorded at birth. Critics argued the policy could adversely affect some intersex people and transgender people by placing them in facilities where they may face increased risks.
In 2020 the ABC shared the story of Mara Ellis, a transgender woman, who spent several months locked up inside a male prison in Western Australia, where she was kept in solitary confinement for up to 23-hours a day.
