Malta Will Update Its Policy For Trans, Gender Variant And Intersex Prisoners
Malta’s prison authorities are officially in talks to update the national policy for trans, gender variant and intersex inmates.
Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri confirmed in Parliament, when questioned by PN MP Graziella Attard Previ that these talks are underway with a government unit called SOGIGESC.
SOGICESC, short for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Unit, is headed by Clayton Mercieca, formerly an activist with ARC.
Camilleri didn’t give any indication of what the update will look like other than to state it will be in line with the “best international standards” so we have asked him for further clarification.
He confirmed that there are currently two trans prisoners but didn’t specify whether they are female-to-male or male-to-female.
The current policy is already very lenient with trans, gender variant and intersex inmates, who are allocated to divisions according to their birth certificate or official identity document.
Maltese law allows people to update their birth records and ID cards to reflect their chosen gender.
The policy states that female-to-male trans inmates should be allocated to male establishments, but they can request to be transferred to female establishments due to high concern about sexual assault.
Male-to-female trans inmates should be allocated to female establishments and should not be automatically regarded as posing a high sexual offence risk to her fellow inmates. Although the prison director reserves the right to transfer her elsewhere if such a risk arises, only court-determined fraudulent claims of being trans would put them in the ward based on their sex at birth.
The policy also states that the inmate’s self-declared gender identity, name and pronouns must be respected at all times, irrespective of their legal gender.
The entire policy can be found here.
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