boss.....
The High Court has ruled the refusal to move a transsexual inmate to a women's prison is a violation of her human rights.
The prisoner, who cannot be identified, is serving life for manslaughter and attempted rape committed when she was a man.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw had ruled the inmate should continue to be held at a male prison.
But today London's High Court declared it was a breach of the prisoner's rights under the European Convention on Human Rights to deny her relocation.
Barrister for the inmate, Phillippa Kaufmann, told the court: "An indication has just been given to us that the transfer should be effective in a few weeks."
The prisoner's female sex has been recognised under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and her birth certificate amended accordingly, the court heard.
Aspects of the inmate's male sex have been altered - including the laser removal of facial and body hair and the development of breasts with hormone treatment.
She is however forbidden from wearing skirts or more than "subtle" make-up at the men's prison where she is being held on a "vulnerable prisoners" wing.
The inmate has also been denied gender reassignment surgery while she is incarcerated at the men's prison.
The High Court's ruling meant the prisoner could move forward with the surgery, which was her desire.
Deputy Judge David Elvin QC said keeping her at the male facility "effectively bars her ability to qualify for surgery, which interferes with her personal autonomy in a manner which goes beyond that which imprisonment is intended to do".
As part of her evidence, the inmate said she would be a woman until the day she died.
"No one can take my female status away from me," she said.
"For me it is simply a reflection of how it should have been from the start."
She is serving an automatic "two strikes" life sentence for manslaughter "by reason of provocation of her male partner" in 2001.
She was also convicted of the attempted rape of a woman five days after her release from her five-year manslaughter sentence.
The High Court has ruled the refusal to move a transsexual inmate to a women's prison is a violation of her human rights.
The prisoner, who cannot be identified, is serving life for manslaughter and attempted rape committed when she was a man.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw had ruled the inmate should continue to be held at a male prison.
But today London's High Court declared it was a breach of the prisoner's rights under the European Convention on Human Rights to deny her relocation.
Barrister for the inmate, Phillippa Kaufmann, told the court: "An indication has just been given to us that the transfer should be effective in a few weeks."
The prisoner's female sex has been recognised under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and her birth certificate amended accordingly, the court heard.
Aspects of the inmate's male sex have been altered - including the laser removal of facial and body hair and the development of breasts with hormone treatment.
She is however forbidden from wearing skirts or more than "subtle" make-up at the men's prison where she is being held on a "vulnerable prisoners" wing.
The inmate has also been denied gender reassignment surgery while she is incarcerated at the men's prison.
The High Court's ruling meant the prisoner could move forward with the surgery, which was her desire.
Deputy Judge David Elvin QC said keeping her at the male facility "effectively bars her ability to qualify for surgery, which interferes with her personal autonomy in a manner which goes beyond that which imprisonment is intended to do".
As part of her evidence, the inmate said she would be a woman until the day she died.
"No one can take my female status away from me," she said.
"For me it is simply a reflection of how it should have been from the start."
She is serving an automatic "two strikes" life sentence for manslaughter "by reason of provocation of her male partner" in 2001.
She was also convicted of the attempted rape of a woman five days after her release from her five-year manslaughter sentence.
