Transgender Woman in HMP Bronzefield Not Segregated for Sexual Behavior, Source Says
While earlier reports claimed that a transgender prisoner was segregated because of making sexual advances on her fellow female inmates, a source has clarified that it was not the case.
Jessica Winfield, who was formerly known as Martin Ponting prior to her sexual reassignment, was jailed in 1995 for charges of rape and stayed at the males' facility until she underwent sex-change surgery in March this year. Since the surgery, reports claimed that she was eventually transferred to the HMP Bronzefield in Ashford — the biggest women's prison in Europe.
However, recent reports suggested that Winfield was segregated from the other prisoners as she was making sexual advances on other female prisoners. Allegedly, some of the prisoner bosses' initial fear that Winfield would exhibit inappropriate sexual behavior towards other female inmates had come true.
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A source of The Independent, though, has belied the rumors. According to the incognito source, while it is true that Winfield has been segregated, it is not because of the inappropriate sexual advances she made on other prisoners.
The source, though, gave no information on what the real reason was for Winfield's segregation.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jane Hamlin, president of national transgender support group The Beaumont Society, has slammed reports claiming that Winfield was segregated from the rest of the prisoners because of her supposed sexual behavior. According to Hamlin, such reports can have a negative impact on other transgender women in other prisons.
"Sensationalising the story isn't helpful to anybody. I get letters from trans women in prison who are very upset due to verbal abuse and this story doesn't help them. The fact that Winfield is trans is irrelevant, if she's offended in prison she should be treated as any other inmate would be treated in the same circumstances, whether they are a man, woman or trans," Hamlin told The Independent.
