Karen White case

{{short description|Controversial imprisonment of transgender woman}}Karen White, originally from the Manchester area in England, is a rapist who later identified as a woman. The case attracted national attention after White was remanded to a women’s prison, following a knife attack on a neighbour, and was accused of committing four sexual assaults against female prisoners within a 3 month period. White was then moved to an all-male prison in Leeds, while police investigated.{{cite web |url= https://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/top-stories/2021/12-december/ex-inmate-gives-account-of-sex-assault-by-trans-prisoner |title=Female inmate tells of sex assault by trans prisoner |date=18 January 2022 |accessdate=3 March 2025}}

The case was raised in Parliament and led to a change in government policy on managing transgender prisoners.

Background

White was assigned male at birth and committed a number of offences before self-identifying as female: indecent assault, indecent exposure and gross indecency involving children, violence and dishonesty.{{cite web |url=https://news.sky.com/story/transgender-prison-inmate-who-sexually-assaulted-women-jailed-for-life-11523584 |title=Transgender prison inmate who sexually assaulted women jailed for life |date=11 October 2018 |accessdate=2 March 2025}} Then, in August 2017, after being arrested for a knife attack on a 66-year-old neighbour in Mytholmroyd, was remanded to HM Prison New Hall. White began transitioning while at New Hall, wearing a wig, make-up and fake breasts.{{cite news |date=11 October 2018 |title=Trans inmate jailed for Wakefield prison sex offences |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-45825838 |access-date=1 March 2025 |publisher=BBC}}

Two rape charges surfaced after White wrote to one of the victims from prison. The first charge was from a woman who said she had been violently raped multiple times in 2016, after they met at a psychiatric unit in West Yorkshire. The second was from 2003, where White was accused of spiking a woman's drink and raping her. Though arrested at the time, White was ultimately not prosecuted.{{cite news |date=11 October 2018 |title=Transgender prisoner who sexually assaulted inmates jailed for life |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/11/transgender-prisoner-who-sexually-assaulted-inmates-jailed-for-life |access-date=1 March 2025 |newspaper=The Guardian}}

Sexual assaults while on remand

White began gender re-allignment - wearing a wig, make-up and false breasts - while at New Hall and became friendly with a female inmate until an incident in a queue during which the complainant felt something hard press against the small of her back. When she turned around, she saw White's erect penis.{{cite web |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/crime/trans-prisoner-jailed-after-sexually-assaulting-inmates-at-womens-prison-561273 |title=Trans prisoner jailed after sexually assaulting inmates at women's prison |date=11 October 2018 |accessdate=2 March 2025}}

Trial

In October 2018, White pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to two counts of rape, one offence of wounding and two sexual assaults while on remand for previous offences. In passing a sentence of life with a minimum term of 9 and a half years before parole could be considered, Judge Christopher Batty told the defendant: “You are a predator and highly manipulative and in my view you are a danger. You represent a significant risk of serious harm to children, to women and to the general public.”{{cite web |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/crime/trans-prisoner-jailed-after-sexually-assaulting-inmates-at-womens-prison-561273 |title=Trans prisoner jailed after sexually assaulting inmates at women's prison |date=11 October 2018 |accessdate=2 March 2025}}

Aftermath and impact

The Karen White case was raised in Parliament in February 2019 in an oral question and Edward Argar, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, answered to explain that as a result of the case, the Government was reviewing policy and its application.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2019-02-05d.164.0 |title=Topical Questions - Justice 5 February 2019 |date=5 February 2019 |accessdate=2 March 2025}} Thereafter, the Ministry of Justice created a special unit for transgender inmates. A spokesperson said, "Prisoner safety is our biggest concern and any decisions we take will seek to best manage the risks posed by each offender. The wider management of transgender offenders is a highly sensitive issue which poses unique and complex challenges... That's why we are reviewing the way we manage all transgender offenders."{{Cite news |date=2019-03-03 |title=First UK transgender prison unit to open |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47434730 |access-date=2025-03-02 |language=en-GB}}

Dr Sarah Lamble, Reader in Criminology and Queer Theory at Birkbeck, University of London, has argued that, from a queer feminist transformative justice perspective, the White case was successfully deployed by anti-trans forces.{{cite web |url=https://www.law.ed.ac.uk/news-events/events/crg-old-discourses-new-tropes-rethinking-trans-prison-policy-debates-and |title=Old Discourses, New Tropes: Rethinking the Trans Prison Policy Debates and the Construction of Dangerous Others |date=25 January 2025 |accessdate=2 March 2025}}

In 2023, White wrote a letter to a women's rights activist where she stated trans women should be kept out of female prisons.{{Cite web |last=Kennedy |first=Dominic |date=2023-10-02 |title=Keep trans offenders like me out of women's prisons, says Karen White |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/keep-trans-offenders-like-me-out-of-womens-prisons-says-karen-white-0qqdg5tsm |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}}