They tell me to ‘stop playing the trans card’

I would like to respond to Serco’s comment in relation to the letter ‘Bullying Allowed’ (Mailbag, June). As a transgender woman who also lives at Ashfield, I have to say, I don’t recognise the prison that Serco describes. They state that bullying is not tolerated and inappropriate behaviour is challenged immediately, but this is simply not true.

Transphobic and homophobic attitudes are rampant, and often it is staff and not prisoners who engage in this. Moreover, it’s seldom, if ever challenged. Discrimination complaints often aren’t even upheld, let alone dealt with. The prisons approach is to deny discrimination even exists, even when it manifests as physical violence.

I am the vice-chair of the Pride Forum, and I am uncomfortable with Serco using the forum’s existence to claim they promote the protected characteristics. Through the forum, we have routinely requested that staff undergo much needed training around LGBTQIA+ issues but have been consistently knocked back, with senior management choosing instead to deliver, as a cost-saving measure, inadequate training in-house. And then ask us, as victims, what we’re doing about it.

Ashfield’s management team will often proudly proclaim that they have the highest number of trans prisoners in any Serco run prison, and yet they refused to make reasonable adjustments for us. I myself am often misgendered, or targeted unjustly by staff because of my gender, and yet when I’ve challenged this, at best I’m told to stop playing the trans card, at worst I’m given negative IEPs (Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme warnings) for calling staff bigots. I have witnessed prisoners violently target other trans people, in full view of officers, and the prison simply denied the incident ever happened.

Serco would do well to deal with the environment of toxicities before they are allowed to spread.

Editorial note – In the Mailbag ‘Bullying Allowed’, another transgender prisoner at Ashfield claimed that they are bullied and that staff “brush it under the carpet”. Serco says that every transgender prisoner at Ashfield receives an initial review within 14 days of arrival, with formal reviews at least every six months. The prison has a dedicated Diversity and Inclusion Manager, and quarterly meetings of the Diversity and Equality Action Team where prisoners participate. Responding to Lexi S’s letter, a Serco spokesperson said: “We don’t recognise these claims. HMP Ashfield is proud of its inclusive environment and has a significant transgender prisoner population, all of whom are welcomed and supported. We hold monthly forums for each protected characteristic, and we are not aware of any complaints relating to discrimination.”