Jail for male sex offenders opens shop to sell women’s clothes to transgender cons
Cambridgeshire prison allows inmates to order the must-have items from Avon catalogues
A JAIL specially built for male sex offenders has opened its own pop-up shop for transgender lags to order women’s clothes and make-up.
The prison – which houses 1,200 criminals – has received complaints from six inmates about them being unable to get female clothing, cosmetics and toiletries.
Now the Equalities Team at Littlehey prison has set up a “shop” where the transgender prisoners can browse Avon and Very catalogues and place orders.
The cons have also complained about prison staff refusing to call them by their new women’s names.
A report by watchdog the Independent Monitoring Board revealed: “There are currently 6 transgender prisoners who meet regularly.
“Throughout the year there have been ongoing issues about catalogues to obtain clothing, make up and toiletries on a par with the female estate.
“The Equalities Team have gone to extraordinary lengths to try and change this situation for example there has been a ‘pop up shop’ organised specifically for this group which was well received, specific catalogues like Very and Avon will be available for this group.”
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But the group said in its annual report about the Cambridgeshire nick that there were examples of staff refusing to call inmates by their new female names.
The study said: “There are still some examples where staff are not calling these prisoners by their preferred name or title.”
The prison watchdog also reported dangerous sex offenders held in another nick have complained about a lack of hair dye and make-up.
And the cons complained that they cannot shower properly away from the prying eyes of fellow prisoners.
A report into the regime at HMP Isle of Wight, created by the merger of notorious Parkhurst and Albany jails, said: “Concerns usually centred around the unavailability or slow delivery of suitable make up and also privacy in showers.
“Following the deaths of 2 transgender prisoners in other establishments a welfare check was carried out with this group of prisoners and this revealed that the main concerns of the group centred around hair-dye, make-up and showers.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “ There are strict rules in place to ensure transgender prisoners are managed safely and in accordance with the law.
“We are reviewing our guidelines to see what improvements can be made to the way they are managed in custody.”