Isla Bryson case

Isla Annie Bryson from Clydebank, Scotland is a transgender woman who, prior to transitioning, raped two women in 2016 and 2019, being convicted of those offences in 2023. Bryson was charged, and first appeared in court in 2019, under the name Adam Graham. Shortly thereafter, in 2020, Bryson came out as trans and took the name Isla Bryson.

As a trans woman, Bryson was remanded to a women's prison while awaiting trial, and was segregated from other prisoners pending risk assessment. Following a public backlash, Bryson was transferred to a male prison. The case was used to criticize the Scottish Parliament's passage of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill despite it having been blocked by the UK Government (using section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998).

During the controversy, the Scottish Prison Service announced an "urgent review" into the location of transgender inmates, and announced that trans people would be initially imprisoned according to their sex rather than gender identity until assessment could determine which was ultimately more appropriate for the individual.

Background

Bryson was born in 1991, assigned male, and named Adam Binnie Bryson.^[1][2] Bryson married a woman with the surname Graham in July 2016.^[3][4] Bryson then raped two women: one in September 2016 and one in June 2019.^[3][5] One victim testified having met Bryson on the dating website, Badoo, with Bryson using the name Adam Graham,^[5] and the other woman testified communicating with Bryson via Bigo, with Bryson using the name DJ Blade.^[6]

Bryson appeared in court in July 2019 under the name Adam Graham, and was charged that year.^[5][7] In 2020, Bryson came out as a trans woman, and assumed the name Isla Annie Bryson in court that year.^[8][9] In May 2021, Bryson's birth certificate was amended to name her Annie Bryson, but her legal gender remained male.^[10] In the 2023 trial, Bryson testified that she knew she was trans since the age of four,^[9] however Bryson's mother said Bryson never expressed this growing up,^[4] and Bryson's estranged wife said Bryson made no indication of this during their relationship.^[3] The wife further accused Bryson of stabbing her and trying to rape her, and said she had been trying to end their marriage for seven years, but was unable to locate Bryson.^[11]

As of February 2023, Bryson is undergoing feminizing hormone therapy.^[4]

Enrolment at Ayrshire College

In 2021, while awaiting trial, Bryson studied cosmetology at Ayrshire College's Kilwinning campus for three months, where she went by her middle name, Annie.^[12][13] Most of her coursemates were younger women. Upon learning of her later rape conviction, three of her coursemates reported feeling shocked and violated, especially as she had practised applying spray tan on them as part of a one-day course, during which they had worn little clothing.^[14][15][16] The College said that it had no knowledge of the charges against her at the time.^[14]

Susan Smith of the gender-critical campaign group For Women Scotland expressed concern that classmates were unaware of the charges against Bryson because she went by a different name than the one was originally charged under.^[14] Lawyer Thomas Ross said that, as the law stands, someone accused of a crime is not obliged to disclose that information. He called the situation a catch-22 for an institution which would have to choose between putting other students at risk by allowing that person to attend, or excluding someone who is presumed to be innocent.^[16]

Trial

Bryson's trial was held in January 2023 at the High Court of Justiciary in Glasgow, and lasted six days.^[17] The case was prosecuted by Advocate depute John Keenan, defended by Edward Targowski, and judged by Lord Scott. The prosecution described how she had "preyed on two vulnerable female partners" after meeting them online. Bryson denied raping the two women, arguing the sex had been consensual, and claimed to be "in no way a predatory male". The defence argued that she was also vulnerable due being transgender.^[18][19]

She was convicted of the rapes on 24 January 2023, making her the first known trans woman to be convicted of rape in Scotland. Lord Scott warned her that a "significant custodial sentence" was inevitable.^[20] Following her conviction, Police Scotland declared that Bryson had been arrested and charged as a man, and that her crimes would therefore be recorded as having been committed by a man.^[21]

On 28 February 2023, Bryson was sentenced to eight years in prison, with a further three years of supervision upon release. She was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life. The court heard reports of Bryson having neurodevelopmental problems. In his summary, Lord Scott said Bryson continued to deny the crimes and had claimed, without evidence, that the victims had colluded:

You see yourself as the victim in this case. But you are not [...] Your vulnerability is no excuse at all for what you did to these two women in 2016 and 2019. Regardless of your own vulnerability, in a period of just under three years, you raped two women who can both be regarded as vulnerable."^[22][23][24]

Remand to women's prison

From 2014, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) held a policy that—while allowing for case-by-case consideration and ongoing risk assessments—advised that transgender people should generally be allocated to prisons matching "the new gender in which they are living".^[25] While the warrant issued by the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS) called for Bryson to be taken to HM Prison Barlinnie, a men's prison in Glasgow, the SPS was not bound by it and detained her at HM Prison Cornton Vale in Stirling, Scotland's sole women-only prison, where she was segregated from other prisoners.^[26][27]

In October 2022, a Freedom of Information request obtained by The Times found that there were 19 transgender prisoners in Scotland, 12 of whom began transitioning while in prison.^[28]

Reactions

Bryson's imprisonment at Cornton Vale sparked debate and concerns about the safety of the other prisoners.^[29]

Sandy Brindley, the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said "It cannot be right for a rapist to be in a women's prison",^[30] while concerns were also expressed by 10 Downing Street, where a spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak compared the case with the situation in England and Wales, where "transgender women must go through a robust risk assessment that factors in their offending history and anatomy before they can be moved to a women's prison".^[31]

Dominic Raab, the Secretary of State for Justice, said a similar incident would not happen in England and Wales, where a recent change in the law would shortly be implemented to prevent transgender women convicted of sex offences against women, or those who retained their original genitalia, from being detained in a women's prison, apart from in exceptional circumstances authorised by the minister.^[32] Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, said "this dangerous rapist should not be in a women's prison".^[31] Keith Brown, Scotland's Cabinet Secretary for Justice, told MSPs he trusted the Scottish Prison Service to decide where Bryson should be held: "The facts of the matter are that the Scottish Prison Service has a long track record – I'm talking 20 years and more – of assessing risks within our prisons, including those presented by the presence of trans prisoners – both for the trans prisoners themselves and other prisoners."^[29][33]

Gender Recognition Reform Bill

Bryson's conviction came several weeks after the Scottish Parliament passed the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, designed to allow trans people in Scotland to more easily change their legal sex.^[34][35] The bill's opponents pointed to the Bryson case, and questioned whether it contained a sufficient level of safeguarding for women in prison.^[29] The UK government subsequently blocked the bill under the Scotland Act 1998, citing the alleged potential for predatory men to use the legislation to access women-only spaces for malicious purposes. Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, denied such a risk, and accused the UK government of attacking Scottish democracy and trying to fuel a culture war.^[35]

The bill would have precluded anyone with a sexual harm prevention order or sexual offences prevention order from obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate.^[33] Policy analyst Lucy Hunter Blackburn addressed the Equalities Committee and warned the bill could lead to legal challenges and suggested it should be amended to exempt prisons from recognising the trans status of prisoners.^[36][37]

Move to a men's prison

See also: LGBT people in prison

On 26 January 2023, Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, commented on the case at First Minister's Questions after Conservative leader Douglas Ross raised the issue.^[29] Sturgeon confirmed that Bryson would not serve her sentence at Cornton Vale, saying "There is no automatic right for a trans woman convicted of a crime to serve their sentence in a female prison even if they have a gender recognition certificate. Every case is subject to rigorous individual risk assessment and the safety of other prisoners is paramount." She also confirmed the Gender Recognition Reform Bill had no bearing on Bryson's case. Under Sturgeon's orders, Bryson was moved to a men's wing of HM Prison Edinburgh later the same day.^[38][39][29] At the 2 February session of First Minister's Questions, Sturgeon agreed with Ross that Bryson was "almost certainly" lying about being transgender, as an "easy way out".^[40][41]

Rhona Hotchkiss, a former governor of Cornton Vale prison, described the decision to send a convicted rapist to a women's prison as an "unnecessary shambles".^[42]

Aftermath

Following the decision to move Bryson to a men's prison, speculation arose concerning a potential blanket rule on accommodating transgender prisoners, after Sturgeon agreed with comments made by Brindley during an appearance on the 27 January edition of The News Agents podcast. Vic Valentine of the campaign group Scottish Trans expressed fears that such a rule would place trans women at significant risk if they were sent to a men's prison, but agreed that sex offenders who pose significant risk to women should not be housed with other female prisoners.^[43]

On 29 January 2023, following public backlash over the Bryson case as well as that of Tiffany Scott, a trans woman convicted of stalking a 13-year-old girl, who had successfully applied to be transferred to a women's facility, the Scottish Prison Service announced it would pause movement of all transgender prisoners, while it carried out an "urgent review" into all transgender prisoners.^[44] On 9 February it announced that trans prisoners in Scotland would initially be housed according to their assigned sex at birth, after their case would be assessed to determine whether it would be suitable to accommodate them in a men's or women's facility. On the Bryson case, the report said the Scottish Prison Service's procedures had been followed, but that the SPS had received "conflicting and limited information" about Bryson beyond her immediate convictions, and recommended a "shared justice process" for the future admission of transgender people to prison.^[45] The report also confirmed that Bryson did not have any contact with the other prisoners during her time at Cornton Vale, and therefore did not pose a risk to them.^[46]

On 27 February 2023, regulations in England and Wales came into force banning transgender women "with their male genitalia intact", or those who are sex offenders, from being sent to women's prisons.^[47]

On 3 July 2023, Sky News reported that Bryson had written to the Sunday Mail to say that prison was "full of transphobic people" after a man was charged with threatening behaviour against her. Police Scotland confirmed that they had attended the prison on 8 June, and that a 24-year-old man had been charged over the incident.^[48] In another letter to the Sunday Mail in April 2024, she claimed to have received an apology from the Scottish Prison Service after a female prison officer misgendered her.^[49]

On 5 December 2023, the Scottish Prison Service issued new guidelines on transgender prisoners, stating that trans women who have hurt women or girls would not be sent to a female prison unless there were "exceptional" circumstances.^[50]

In September 2024, Jo Farrell, the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, said the force would not record a male rapist as female, telling Sky News "You can only commit that crime as a man". However, it was later reported that Police Scotland had considered recording Bryson as female.^[51] The matter was subsequently raised at Holyrood, where the Scottish Conservatives suggested Police Scotland had "serious questions to answer" over the proposal.^[52]

See also

• Karen White case – English transgender woman who was transferred to a women's prison and sexually assaulted female inmates
• Tiffany Scott (prisoner) – Scottish transgender woman convicted of child sexual abuse, later transferred to women's prison
• Amber McLaughlin – American transgender woman convicted of rape and murder, first transgender person to be executed in the USA
• Kim Marie Johansson – Swedish transgender woman convicted of murder as a man, Johansson transitioned in prison and transferred to a women's prison