Tool 5: Places of Deprivation of Liberty and Gender Physical searches can be a time of increased risk of discrimination and ridicule for LGBTI individuals. A specific policy related to the needs of people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity should be developed and implemented from a gender perspective (see Box 12). It is important that searching of transgender and intersex individuals is not decided on the basis of their sex at birth, current legal documentation or any assumed preference, but that individuals are consulted about whether they would feel more comfortable being searched by a female or male member of staff.* Box 12: Scotland’s guidance on searching transgender prisoners The Scottish Prison Service has issued a series of short films designed to provide guidance to prison staff on searching transgender prisoners. The films demonstrate a promising practice, in that they outline issues around the arrival of a transgender prisoner and make it clear why a gender-responsive approach is so important. The series includes separate films to demonstrate the search of a trans man and a trans woman; these were produced in conjunction with the Scottish Trans Alliance and the Equality Network. The Scottish Prison Service Gender Identity and Gender Reassignment Policy stipulates that people in custody should be body searched in accordance with their wishes. The person in custody must be asked which sex they wish to be searched by, their answer recorded and the body search conducted accordingly. Source: E. M. Wright, P. Van Voorhis, E. J. Salisbury and A. Bauman (2009) “Lessons from the NIC/UC GenderResponsive Classification Project”, Women, Girls & Criminal Justice, 10(6), pp. 81–96. Risk and needs assessment As discussed throughout this document, female detainees and prisoners are considerably different from male detainees and prisoners, yet these differences are frequently overlooked when applying tools to understand risk and need. Instead, assessment tools often designed decades ago for application to men are applied to women with little or no change. Areas in which women and men commonly differ and which should be taken into consideration when assessing risk and need include:15 Ê background characteristics Ê the offences that bring them to prison Ê the danger they pose to prison security Ê their specific gendered needs and responsibilities Ê the factors that led them to be deprived of their liberty. Specific tools, such as the women’s risk need assessment (WRNA), should be used to assess the needs and risk of female detainees (see Box 13). Great caution should be taken when making decisions on allocation to places of deprivation of liberty for transgender individuals. In every case the individual should be consulted on where they would feel most safe, and decisions taken on their placement and protection should be taken with their informed consent.16 In many cases the decision on where to allocate transgender individuals is based purely on the individual’s determined sex at birth. As noted by the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture, “the absence of appropriate means of identification, registration and detention leads in some cases to transgender women being placed in male-only prisons, where they are exposed to a high risk of rape, often with the complicity of prison personnel”.17 See Mandela Rules, Rule 7(a). * For more guidance on searching see Bangkok Rules 19–21 and OSCE/ODIHR and PRI (2018) Guidance Document on the Nelson Mandela Rules: Implementing the United Nations Revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. The guide covers topics including ensuring safety and security and respecting human dignity and privacy; specific protections for strip and body-cavity searches; record keeping; and women, LGBTI individuals and children. 37