Media Release 

Thursday November 13th 2025

 

 

Equality Tasmania has praised the Tasmanian Government for confirming that its policies allowing trans women in women’s prisoners will remain in place.

 

Yesterday’s edition of the Australian newspaper said "the state government has banned trans-identifying male prisoners from women's prisons” in response to a decision not to allow a trans-identifying inmate convicted of child abuse into the women’s prison.

 

But today’s Hobart Mercury cites Attorney-General, Guy Barnett, as having “rejected claims the government had banned transgender inmates from serving time in women’s prisons".

 

Mr Barnett said his decision is consistent with current guidelines which allow “transgender, transsexual and intersex prisoners the right to be housed in a correctional facility appropriate to their gender identification.”

 

This comes after a call from Equality Tasmania for the State Government to clarify its position and recommit to its existing policy.

 

Transgender community advocate, Martine Delaney, said,

 

“It is great to see that Tasmania retains the same policy it has had since 2009 and that it has not reversed this policy due to an exceptional case reported wrongly in one newspaper.”

 

“The real threat to women in prison is to trans women being housed in men’s facilities as was tragically highlighted by the case of trans woman, Marjorie Harwood, who was gang raped in Tasmania’s male prison where she was wrongly incarcerated. Marjorie died after refusing medical treatment for a congenital condition rather than be returned to the male prison.”

 

“I’d like to think the memory of Marjorie is helping decision-makers focus on what is really at stake here.”

 

Equality Tasmania spokesperson, Rodney Croome, also welcomed the decision.

 

“This shows the Tasmanian Government is responding to the needs of vulnerable Tasmanians.”

 

“In the last few weeks there have been interstate attacks on Tasmania’s school curricula, library policies and prisoner policies, all for taking the needs of trans and gender diverse people into account.”

 

“As a Tasmanian, I am proud none of these attacks have changed any of our state’s sensible, reasonable, inclusive and equitable policies."

 

Despite the 2009 policy allowing Marjorie Harwood to be kept in a female facility, she was wrongly held in the male facility.

 

The State Government is developing a new policy involving a Gender Oversight Panel to ensure this does not happen again.

 

A copy of the Mercury article is attached.

For extracts from the current and proposed policies, see below.

 

For a copy of this statement on the web, click here

 

*

 

 

 

 

Tasmania Prison Service, Director’s Standing Order (DSO) 2.15 

Transgender and / or Gender-Diverse Prisoners, DRAFT, 2025, page 2