Scotland's top court finds trans-prison guidance unlawful

Scotland’s highest civil court has ruled that government guidance allowing some transgender women to be housed in women’s prisons is unlawful. The judgment, delivered by Lady Ross at the Court of Session on Friday, June 19, 2026, represents a significant legal defeat for the Scottish government and a victory for the campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought the judicial review.

The court found that the Scottish Prison Service guidance, which permitted the placement of transgender women in the female estate following individual risk assessments, conflicted with legal requirements for separate prison accommodation for men and women. Lady Ross stated that while transgender prisoners have rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, these do not extend to a right to be housed in a prison for the opposite biological sex. She concluded that the guidance constituted a misstatement of the law.

The case stemmed from a long-running dispute over prison policy following a 2025 UK Supreme Court ruling that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer to biological sex. For Women Scotland argued that the Scottish Prison Service’s subsequent guidance was inconsistent...