Skip to content

Incentives matter

One in 50 male offenders in prisons are self-identifying as transgender, according to a survey by the official jail watchdog, amid concerns inmates may be attempting to secure extra perks.

The figure, the first by the watchdog, suggests there are up to 1,500 transgender inmates among the 90,000 prisoners in England and Wales, more than ten times previous estimates, and at least four times the number in the general population.

Among offenders from traveller communities the number self-identifying as transgender or transsexual rose to one in ten inmates, according to the annual report by Peter Clarke, the chief inspector of prisons.

Transgender prisoners are entitled to shower alone, separate cells and can apply to switch between male and female jails.

Not that this is true:

“and at least four times the number in the general population.”

Four times the percentage maybe, the proportion.

But, you know, incentives matter to human beings. Given that the cost is a self declaration, why not?

13 thoughts on “Incentives matter”

  1. Among offenders from traveller communities the number self-identifying as transgender or transsexual rose to one in ten inmates

    Lol. The intersectionality of pikey and transgender will have the bearded Guardianistas wetting their Fair Trade knickers with excitement.

    But hey, this is also a hill our nominally ‘conservative’ Government also insists it wants to die on, so who are we to judge them?

  2. The Meissen Bison

    It would make more sense to bung all self-identifying transgender convicts into a single facilty (Strangeways has a certain appeal here) and let them all shower together and count their salient parts.

  3. Or maybe criminal tendenccies amongst transgender people are much higher than amongst the general population.

    If I were Richard Murphy I would seek a grant from somewhere to study this link.

  4. So, it must be true – that the word “gullible” has been removed from the Oxford English Dictionary!

  5. Up in the female prison,
    there are seventy five women,
    and its amongst them
    i wish i did….. dwell
    And the ol’ triangle
    could go jingle jangle
    all along the banks of the Royal
    Canal.

  6. Bloke in Germany said:
    “There are members of the travelling community in prison?”

    Yes, but they change prisons every six weeks.

  7. Has anyone here ever met a didicoy who was not a criminal and, if so, was that didicoy also not involved in trashing any neighbourhood he happened to live in?

    Serious question.

  8. So no one is in any way jumping to the conclusion that the rate of criminality is consistent across different groups?

    Groups that are excluded from society tend to commit more crimes. And MF transgendered are excluded, so has anyone bothered to check the crime rates of transgenders in comparison to other excluded groups?

    Or is this is yet another example of sexism? It’s ok for women to cross-dress or wot-ever, but not men?

  9. Groups that are excluded from society tend to commit more crimes.

    This isn’t true. Historically, the excluded groups, e.g. Mormons in the US, or priests in the USSR, or Jews pretty much anywhere tended to keep their heads down and *not* give the authorities a reason to clobber them.

  10. “Has anyone here ever met a didicoy who was not a criminal and, if so, was that didicoy also not involved in trashing any neighbourhood he happened to live in?

    Serious question.”

    Yes, I have. Or rather I’ve sold them hay for their horses (they love their gypsy cobs, the more you have the more important you are), and they’ve never done me over. Now what they get up to elsewhere is of course a moot point.

    There’s two sorts of gypsy, the real Romany ones, who don’t really travel now, they live on camp sites, with fixed ‘caravans’ ie mobile homes that never move. Utterly tasteless places, all concrete statutes of fawns and plastic chain fences. But also very tidy. They usually have legit businesses, OK no tax or VAT but they do actual work in return for money, not robbing old ladies. The further away from travelling these sort get the more legit they become, they get settled in one spot, they realise its easier to make a living earning it, albeit untaxed, than robbing people.

    Then there’s the Irish tinkers, who move from spot to spot, thieving anything they can lay their hands on, camping on public land, leaving a literal pile of shit behind, violent and aggressive, and society would be vastly improved if they all got a 9mm to the back of the head.

  11. @ Edward Lud
    Yes – he was he fourth-best boxer I sparred against. He subsequently made a lot of money as a professional boxer.

    For avoidance of doubt, that was before Tyson Fury was born.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *