Rape as a punishment for not paying your TV license
Have you ever seen such widespread contempt and dismissal for the most basic standards of safety and dignity for female prisoners?
DID YOU KNOW that female prisoners have usually been the victims of worse crimes than those with which they have been convicted? Did you know that almost a third of women’s convictions are for not paying the TV License fee? Did you know that the reason so many women are prosecuted is because they are more likely to open the door to inspectors?
Well, Lord Paddick, Lord Cashman and other big HoL names have all came out strongly in favour of rape as a potential punishment for these kinds of crimes; crimes for which women are more likely to end up in prison.
LORD PADDICK
As For Women Scotland said. “Oh is that what you think you were doing? If you think women and girls are served by rules which allow convicted rapists into intimate contact with women, your bar for protecting women is so low it's subterranean!”
Lord Cashman
Weaponizing suicidal ideation so that rape might be a punishment for any woman not paying her TV license. he claimed that he’d spoken to trans people who “would rather commit suicide” than be accommodated in the correct prison for their sex.
He went on to describe this amendment as ‘inhumane’ and creating ‘further inequalities’, though he failed to offer any concerns for the housing of vulnerable women with dangerous, disturbed men.
Lord Faulks
His contribution was anecdotal and he spoke of representing trans-identified male, April Ashley, as a young barrister. He said “She changed from a man to a woman after pioneering surgery… Lived successfully as a woman for 30 years”.
Lord Faulks concluded, “To legislate in this area would be extremely inappropriate”. Well, innaporpriate it may be, but it is impossible to legislate for women’s rights if you believe women are surgically constructed from males or defined by a particular way of ‘living’.
Another strong voice for rape as a punishment for not paying your TV License.
Lord Hope of Craighead
He labours under the misapprehension that a trans identity involves a “Reconstruction of the body” and “A mentality designed entirely to live the new life”.
He added, “The offender requires as much consideration on the grounds of safety and emotional distress as the people around them in the prison in which they are placed”.
Here’s who he’s fighting for, stats collected from a Freedom Of Information request.
“81 out of 163 trans prisoners sentenced for one or more sexual crimes. 40 of those for rape and 10 for attempted rape plus 47 for crimes involving children.”
Do you know this, Lord Hope? Or is this news to you?
Lord Berkeley of Knighton
Seemingly in favour of using women as human shields against male violence, he spoke of the dangers facing ‘effeminate’ men and those who ‘have been sexually adapted to being a woman’. He commented, “I cannot even begin to think how that person would be targeted in a male prison”. My God, can you imagine putting vulnerable people at risk of rape? It’s almost like what you’re doing to women. In fact, it’s exactly like that.
Lord Herbert of South Downs
Another woefully uninformed Lord who believes (or claims to believe) that the number of trans-identified males in the female estate is extremely low and that they ‘pose no risk whatever’ to the women there.
Baroness Barker
She tried to dismiss the evidence that female prisoners have been assaulted, or ‘predated on’ as she more coyly put it, by trans-identified males. “There are historical cases, which are trotted out all the time…” Like Lord Paddick and Lord Herbert, she talked about ‘risk assessment’ as if that magically solves all problems.
Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
He described talking to a prison governor who is ‘relaxed’ about housing trans-identified males in the female estate. Consequently, he is happy to trust ‘the current complex case boards’ to make these decisions. What does your common sense tell you, Lord Ponsonby? Have you tried listening to that? Should women who don’t pay their TV license fee be subjected to even the remotest possibility of being raped for that crime?
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
He, too, played down the assaults on women in prison by trans-identified males. And then he really showed his hand; “Even if, God forbid, there were such an assault, that would not necessarily mean that the policy was wrong”.
So what’s the important take away for those women—women in prison—one of the least powerful demographics in the UK, abused by male partners and now abandoned by men at the very top?
It is simply this.
If you’re angry at this situation and want to help, consider donating to the new crowdfunder from Keep Prisons Single Sex.
Sorry JL collaborated with me on this and I forgot to credit. Sorry, Hildy! Have updated!
Does Cashman even listen to himself? Threatening to kill yourself if you get sent to prison does not entitle you to walk free when you commit a crime, any more than threatening to hold your breath until you turn blue. You don't get to pick what sentence you'd prefer, either. Prison is not Burger King. You cannot 'Have It Your Way'.