A total of six women have now come forward reporting physical or sexual violence at the hands of transgender inmate Lesley “Krista” Richards in South Australia’s Port Augusta Prison.
Despite these reports, Premier Peter Malinauskas continues to maintain that banning transgender inmates from women’s prisons is too “niche” an issue to warrant action.
Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) South Australia Director, Ashlyn Vice, said the situation highlighted a serious failure to protect vulnerable women in custody. “We are talking about preventable violence against women,” Vice said.
Vice noted Richards’ known history of sexual violence and said it was deeply troubling that such an offender had been placed in close proximity to women in a confined environment.
“If what some dismiss as a ‘culture war’ is resulting in women being assaulted, it cannot simply be ignored,” she said. “How many more assault cases will it take before a ban is deemed appropriate? How many more women do we want in the firing line?”
Malinauskas’ silence stands in stark contrast to Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, who in October moved swiftly to ban male transgender prisoners from female facilities.
The Australian Christian Lobby is calling on Premier Peter Malinauskas to issue an outright ban on the placement of transgender inmates in women’s prisons and to implement clear, sex-based safeguards to prevent further violence against female prisoners.
