Banning transgender women from Portuguese prisons is what the Association for the Defense of Freedom (SALL) and the Association of Heads of the Prison Guard Corps (ASCCGP) want, who went to court to revoke the rule that allows the presence of these women in women’s prisons.
There is also an injunction seeking the “immediate suspension” of the presence of these prisoners in women’s prisons. SALL and ASCCGP state that “the action comes in a context marked by concrete cases that highlighted real risks to the safety of women prisoners forced to share spaces with prisoners who identify as women”.
“There is no question of impugning any individual identity. It is about ensuring that administrative decisions respect the fundamental rights of everyone and do not put particularly vulnerable people at risk, such as women prisoners forced to share a cell with a man”, highlights José Maria Cortes, lawyer and responsible for this action, as well as a member of SALL, cited in a statement sent to newsrooms.
Hermínio Barradas, president of the union association, states that “prison establishments do not have the capacity to accommodate situations of gender self-determination without affecting the rights of professionals and prisoners”. Also cited in the statement, he adds that “Friction and conflict of rights begin immediately when a citizen enters. It is from a preventive perspective that this issue must be addressed and resolved”.
A association considers the situation “urgent” and, therefore, “asks the court to declare the norms and practices in question illegal, to order the immediate cessation of these situations and to oblige the State to adopt criteria compatible with the fundamental rights of the female prison population”.
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