Foreign Affairs

Transgender Inmate Slapped With Prison Sentence For Rape And Assault

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England’s Leeds Crown Court sentenced a biological male transgender inmate to prison for using his “transgender persona” to rape and sexually assault multiple women.

“You are a predator and highly manipulative and in my view you are a danger,” Judge Christopher Batty said of 52-year-old transgender prisoner Karen White, BBC News reported Thursday. “You represent a significant risk of serious harm to children, to women and to the general public.”

Batty found White guilty of two counts of rape, two sexual assaults and one offence of wounding, and sentenced him to a minimum of nine and a half years before White can be considered for parole, according to The Telegraph.

White attacked two inmates between September and October 2017 while serving time for previous offenses at HMP New Hall women’s prison in Wakefield, England, according to BBC. Previous offenses included indecent assault, indecent exposure and gross indecency involving children.

English and Welsh prison regulations stipulate that prison guards can transfer biological males that identify as female and have a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) to female prisons. Transgender prisoners can also be housed according to their identity on a case-by-case basis if a judge rules to permit it.

Following the attacks, authorities moved White from the women’s prison to male prison HM Prison Leeds. White’s hearing took place at the male prison, which opened in 1847 and is locally known as Armley Gaol.

White also admitted to raping three women outside the prison during his hearing.

Nearly 70 percent of prisoners at HM Prison Leeds are living in overcrowded conditions, according to a LeedsLive August report.

There are roughly 13,800 male sex-offender inmates in England and Wales, according to a House of Commons 2017 report.

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