Prison bosses bought a £10,000 gadget known as an ‘energy wall’ for Britain’s only dedicated unit for high-risk transgender women prisoners – and the tiny handful of inmates on the wing don’t even use it.
The specialist unit at Downview women’s jail in Sutton, Surrey was opened in 2019 after Karen White – who had male anatomy but identified as female – sexually assaulted two female inmates while on remand at HMP New Hall in West Yorkshire.
E Wing currently houses between three and five transgender women at any one time despite having a capacity of 16, which remains ring-fenced even at a time when Britain is running out of prison spaces.
Downview’s trans unit (E Wing) is intended for trans women – who were born biologically male – but have a gender recognition certificate (GRC) that states their gender as female. These convicts are sometimes held temporarily in men’s prisons while their transfer to Downview is being arranged, but the rules state they should be kept separate from the rest of the population.
Members of the jail’s independent monitoring board (IMB) criticised the regime as ‘limited and unstructured’, adding that inmates were allowed to go in and out of their cells whenever they wanted and spent much of their time watching TV.
The board questioned the ‘rationale’ at a time of ‘general financial constraints’ of installing the energy wall, which is a type of interactive gadget featuring games targeting a range of areas including reaction times, memory, speed and fitness.
Despite being installed at vast expense, the IMB noted that the feature was notably unpopular with inmates, who refused to use it.
‘The Board queries the rationale (in the face of general financial constraints across the prison) for the provision of an ”energy wall”, costing £10,000, for this wing for just three prisoners (and which couldn’t then be installed on the wall for some time as required),’ the IMB stated in its 2024 annual report.
‘The energy wall is not popular with these residents and has not often been used. We question whether it could have been located elsewhere in the prison (where a wider number of prisoners would have had access to it, such as perhaps the gym) or the funds for it could have been used for alternative provision for the particular wing.’
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: ‘This purchase was made before the general election and the new government will ensure taxpayer money is spent appropriately.’
The IMB noted that prisoners on the trans wing were not locked in their cells by guards while normally inmates are confined unless they are let out for work, association, meals or access to services like education.
Continuing its description of the wing, the board said: ‘Certain prisoners were not willing to access the purposeful activity on offer, as they were not prepared to be supervised (sight and sound) in the rest of the prison as mandated.
‘For much of the reporting period, the regime on this wing remained limited and unstructured, with activities for most residents confined to cursory cleaning, with significant amounts of attendant television watching, and no enforced lock in.
‘There were sporadic efforts at times to improve this by the prison. However, we saw delays in accessing basic provisions to improve the regime (such as cooking utensils and, later, basic cookery skills classes, for example).
Downview, which opened in 1989, can hold 356 women prisoners and a small number of young offenders. Its governor is Amy Dixon.
The jail’s population has risen by 75 per cent from autumn 2020 to 2024, which the IMB found was ‘placing increased pressure’ on prison staff.
The board also noted the large number of seriously mentally ill women on the prisons care and separation unit (CSU), which is not intended to be a therapeutic environment.
Emma Wilson, chair of the Downview IMB, said: ‘The prison has had a challenging year. The Board has seen first-hand the significant impact of the increase in population throughout the women’s estate.
‘We have observed not only the consequences of a complex mix of prisoners on the effective operations of the prison, but also a near-doubling of acutely mentally unwell women arriving at Downview who would be best served in a secure psychiatric setting.
‘We have been impressed by the compassion and professionalism of staff in supporting these women. But the fact remains that prison staff aren’t trained to treat or support severe psychiatric cases, and segregation conditions are categorically unsuitable to house vulnerable prisoners.’
Currently, trans women with a current or previous conviction for sexual or violent offences will generally be held in a prison which matches the sex they were registered as at birth.
This means that an offender who identifies as a woman but has male anatomy will generally be sent to a men’s prison.
By contrast, Downview is a women’s prison, and its trans unit (E Wing) is intended for trans women who have a gender recognition certificate that states their gender as female.
These women are sometimes held temporarily in men’s prisons while their transfer to Downview is being arranged, but the rules state they should be kept separate from the rest of the population.