Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Brian Kingston on 23 June 2026.

MLA

Mr Brian Kingston

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

23 June 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5637429

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I rise to speak on the group 9 amendments to the Justice Bill, as we are all doing, on day 7 of our Consideration Stage. The end is in sight. I will comment first on amendment No 96, tabled by DUP members Paul Frew, Maurice Bradley and me. As Paul Frew explained yesterday, the purpose of the amendment is to avoid the difficulties that arise for prisoners who are released at weekends or on public holidays, when support services — both statutory and voluntary sector services — are less likely to be available for them. That can result in difficulty securing accommodation and access to support services to help them reintegrate into society. Therefore, we propose that, in such circumstances, the release day should be brought forward by a day or two to a normal weekday to ensure that those support services are available. We consider that to be a common-sense policy that will support rehabilitation and help to prevent repeat offending and a cycle of re-imprisonment. I welcome the words of support for the amendment and trust that it will receive support across the House. I will also comment on amendment No 97 from Timothy Gaston MLA on the accommodation of women prisoners. We consider it also to be a common-sense proposal in providing protection, and it should be supported. The amendment to rule 90 of the Prison and Young Offenders Centre Rules (Northern Ireland) 1995 would allow the Department of Justice to make individualised accommodation arrangements for a prisoner, provided that:

"the arrangements do not include the accommodation of a man in prison accommodation in which one or more women are held."

The amendment adds that, as per the Supreme Court ruling in April 2025:

"'man' and 'woman' ... have the meaning given by ... the Equality Act 2010",

namely that of "biological sex". The matter has come to the fore in recent years as society as a whole has worked out its position on people claiming to be transgender. We in the DUP have been clear that women-only protected spaces — toilets; changing rooms; accommodation, including prison accommodation; sports categories; and so on — must be reserved for biological girls and women. Biological men should not be admitted to those spaces. That is common sense in the interest of safety. Going against that could have serious consequences for biological women and their safety. It is naive to think that biological women would not be at threat from biological men in the same prison accommodation. It is clear that some political parties and legislators in Scotland got on the wrong side of public opinion and of the law on such matters. It has taken some time for that to be rectified. As we have discussed, a few days ago in Scotland, a judge ruled that existing prison guidance that allowed some transgender prisoners to be held in jails that match their preferred gender identity, rather than their sex at birth, is unlawful.

In a wee minute. I will finish this part of my contribution first. Put simply, the court ruled that a biological male prisoner who says that he is a trans woman should not therefore be admitted to a female jail. Judge Lady Ross said in her ruling that sex segregation in prisons must be based on biological sex on the basis of the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of a man and a woman in equality law in April last year. The campaign group For Women Scotland had challenged the Scottish Government's guidance through a judicial review (JR), saying that only those born biologically female should be held in the women's estate. Lady Ross said that the existing guidance was:

"in conflict with the requirement that prison accommodation be provided separately for men and women. That constitutes a mis-statement of the law."

She wrote:

"In all the circumstances, the Prisons Guidance is unlawful".

Currently, the Scottish Prison Service uses a system of individual risk assessment that permits circumstances in which trans women born biologically male can be housed alongside women if they are deemed not to pose an unacceptable risk to them. The court, however, ruled that article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects private and family life, does not mean that there is an automatic right for a transgender prisoner to be housed in a prison designated for the opposite biological sex. As others have said, Lady Ross said that article 8 rights were qualified and may be restricted where there is a legitimate justification, including maintaining sex-based segregation in the prison estate. I do not know whether the Minister still wishes to come in.

She does not. That is fine. I consider amendment No 97 to give us the opportunity to provide such protection for women prisoners in Northern Ireland to avoid the mistaken guidance in Scotland. The DUP will therefore support it.

814 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Flagged Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 16:11 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

A second, larger AI model can read this record again, without being told the MLA’s name or party, against the same published rubric. It also asks whether the activity mainly serves the public interest or mainly advances division. Its verdict replaces the current one, whichever way it goes, and its reasons are published here. Each record can have one second assessment.

If you still think the record or its classification is wrong after that, or the record itself has a factual error, you can challenge it. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.