UK transgender woman sent back to men’s prison after losing appeal

LONDON — A transgender woman who was sent to an all-male prison earlier this month has had her request to be moved to a female prison denied by a British court on Friday.

Twenty-six year old Tara Hudson, who was assigned male at birth but has identified and presented as a woman her entire adult life, had reported being the victim of sexual harassment and innuendo after being sent to HMP Bristol to serve a 12-week sentence after she admitted to assault.

The Recorder of Bristol, Llewelyn Sellick told Bristol Crown Court Friday it wasn't for the court to decide where the sentence should be served as that was a decision for the prison service. Although he said: "We would invite further and sensitive consideration of these issues," ITV News reported.

The prison service has said previously it decides where a person will serve their sentence based on their legally recognised gender.

Support for #TaraHudson outside Bristol Crown Court #ISeeTara pic.twitter.com/K1ZUJVIFKL

— Rupert Evelyn (@rupertevelyn) October 30, 2015

"Her life in Bristol prison has been utter hell and she is constantly being harassed," Hudson's mother Jackie Brooklyn told reporters outside the court Friday.

More than 140,000 people have signed a petition calling for Hudson to be moved from HMP Bristol to a women's jail, saying that she is at severe "risk of both physical and mental harm."

"We call upon Bath magistrates and the British judicial system as a whole, to immediately address the dangers Ms Hudson is facing, and amend her sentence that she may spend it in an all-woman’s prison instead," the petition says.