South Africa’s Transgender Prisoners -Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has developed a standard operating procedure (SOP) aimed at protecting the rights and safety of transgender prisoners. However, rights organisations and legal experts are expressing concern over the failure to implement these procedures consistently across the country’s correctional facilities.
The issue has again been brought into the spotlight by the case of NM, a transgender woman currently serving a long-term sentence in Johannesburg Correctional Centre. NM has spent more than five years requesting access to gender-affirming healthcare, including hormone treatment—care that was recommended by psychiatrists employed by DCS.
Despite these medical recommendations, NM’s requests have repeatedly gone unanswered. She has now turned to the Gauteng High Court and the Equality Court, seeking a legal order that compels prison authorities to provide gender-affirming care as part of her basic healthcare rights.
Legal Precedent Offers Hope—but Little Progress for Transgender Prisoners
NM’s case echoes that of Jade September, a transgender woman incarcerated in the male section of Pollsmoor Prison. In 2019, September successfully sued the Department of Correctional Services, with the Equality Court ruling in her favour. The court found that denying her the ability to express her gender identity amounted to unfair discrimination.
The ruling was a landmark moment for the rights of transgender prisoners in South Africa. The court ordered DCS to implement transgender sensitivity training for all correctional staff within one year and to put in place standard operating procedures to accommodate LGBTQIA+ prisoners respectfully and safely.
These SOPs were intended to ensure that transgender individuals were assessed appropriately during admission, including a risk assessment to be conducted within six hours. They outlined respectful procedures for body searches, including ensuring that transgender women and transgender men are only searched by and transported with individuals of the same gender identity. The SOPs also advised staff not to assume someone’s gender and to use their correct names and pronouns.
However, despite the progress made through these court rulings and policies, rights organisations argue that implementation remains weak and inconsistent.
Sanja Bornman, an independent gender law and policy expert who represented September in her case, notes that while conditions initially improved after the Equality Court’s order, these improvements were neither sustained nor extended to other transgender prisoners.
“Over time, it became clear that officials held the mistaken belief that the order only applied to Ms September, and not all transgender inmates,” Bornman explained. “Even the improved treatment of Ms September was not fully sustained.”
Bornman says her organisation, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), has had to intervene repeatedly in similar cases. LHR currently represents NM and has frequently written to DCS to remind prison officials of their legal responsibilities to transgender prisoners across the correctional system—not just in individual cases.
Belinda Qaqamba Makinana, legal and health programmes manager at Gender Dynamix, another organisation involved in the September case, said the biggest threat to transgender prisoners often comes not from other inmates, but from correctional officers themselves.
“We know that besides these two cases, there are many other transgender women in various prisons in South Africa who still face violence, misgendering, and harassment,” said Makinana.
Gender Dynamix worked closely with DCS in the development of the SOPs. However, Makinana said they are not always implemented on the ground.
“I think definitely there needs to be more sensitisation work within prisons to create a safer environment,” she said. “South Africa must perhaps take a bolder step in the way it chooses to accommodate transgender people in prison settings.”
DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo confirmed that it is considered a disciplinary offence for any prison staff to discriminate against inmates based on their gender identity or sexuality.
“DCS continues to sensitise its officials around protecting and securing the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex inmates,” Nxumalo stated.
He also noted that the department takes complaints of discrimination seriously and is committed to upholding constitutional rights within correctional facilities.
A report released last year by the Commission for Gender Equality supported the claims made by rights groups. While the SOPs for LGBTQIA+ prisoners were described as “well thought-out,” their practical implementation remains a major concern.
Legal experts and advocacy groups are now calling for stronger enforcement mechanisms, ongoing staff training, and internal accountability systems to ensure that the SOPs are not just policies on paper, but actively protect transgender prisoners across South Africa.
As NM’s court case proceeds, it will likely set another important legal precedent—but rights groups insist that broader systemic change is urgently needed to ensure dignity, safety, and access to healthcare for all transgender prisoners, not just those able to fight through the courts.
Source- EWN
