Appendix Two Part2.pdf

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taken to address them.

My take from this morning is that there is agreement about what we don’t want to see –
that is, Corrections forced to place transgender women with histories of sexual
offending placed into women’s prisons. There also seemed to be a consensus that this
should be addressed through a combination of regulation changes and an amendment
to primary legislation, though of course Ministers may still want advice on other options.

The actions I have down from here are:

·    DIA needing to prepare some brief advice on this issue for your Minister – for a
meeting on 18 October?
  · s9(2)(h)


·    MoJ doing a new NZBORA vet on the self-identification clauses in the Bill,
including testing the clause 22I(2) s9(2)(h)
  – is there
any sense from MoJ on what the timing is likely to be for this?1982

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·    Developing a briefing for the Governance and Administration Committee on this
issue, as we expect they will open an item of business to receive some further
advice on these issues.

Corrections will also be expected to provide some advice on this issue to our Minister.
With that in mind my colleague
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s9(2)(a)  and I have been working on a paper that we
expect could from the basis of a briefing for our Minister. At this stage it’s a draft, which
we are looking to provide to our leadership team for feedback, but I thought I’d provide a
copy as the content might be helpful in informing some of your advice.
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We are very happy to receive any comments/feedback on the paper

Cheers
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Derek

Derek Senior | Principal Policy Adviser – Corrections Policy | Service Development |
Department of Corrections Ara Poutama Aotearoa | 44-52 The Terrace, Wellington 6011 |
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s9(2)(a)
| [email address] |

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the property of the New Zealand Department of Corrections. It is intended only for
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please contact the sender and delete the material from all computers.

From:
SENIOR, Derek (WELLHO)
To:
s9(2)(a)
Subject:
HPRM:
Date:
31 October 2018 09:44:28 a.m.
Attachments:
Transgender prisoners briefing.docx

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In Confidence
Appendix B – The Karen White case

The case of Karen White, a transgender woman, who committed sexual assaults against
two women while held on remand in a woman’s prison, has been widely reported in the
media.

Karen White was remanded in custody facing charges for grievous bodily harm, burglary,
multiple rapes and other sexual offences. She had previously been convicted of indecent
assault and gross indecency against a child. In September 2017 she was transferred from a
men’s prison to a women’s prison, under prison policy in the UK.

The policy allows for transgender people to apply to be transferred to a prison of their
gender identity, regardless of their legal gender or whether they have undergone any
medical interventions. These decisions are made by a Transgender Case Board, which can
decline the application of transgender women to be transferred to a woman’s prison “where
the risk posed to other offenders and/or staff prevents location on the female estate”. This
exception also applies to transgender women who have had their legal gender identity
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changed, through obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate which is granted after
consideration of the case by a Panel. In the case of Karen White she did not have a Gender
Act
Recognition Certificate.

During the three months White was in the women’s prison she admitted sexually assaulting
two female prisoners. She was transferred back to the men’s estate after police began
investigating. The prosecution alleged during the trial that her transition was not genuine,
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and she used her “transgender persona to put herself in contact with vulnerable persons”.
She pleaded guilty to the two assault charges, among others she was originally remanded
for, and received a life sentence in October 2018.
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The Ministry of Justice has apologised regar
the  ding mistakes made in White’s case, and said
her previous offending history had not been taken into account when making the decision to
transfer her to a women’s prison.
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Bxxxx

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prisoner’s determined sex is currently underway)
· 10 were being held in male prisons, and are not eligible to seek a change in
determination due to previous serious sexual offending against girls and
women.

Thanks

Derek

Derek Senior | Principal Policy Adviser – Corrections Policy | Service Development |
Department of Corrections Ara Poutama Aotearoa | 44-52 The Terrace, Wellington 6011 |
s9(2)(a)
| [email address] |

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From:
SENIOR, Derek (WELLHO)
To:
s9(2)(a)
Subject:
HPRM: FW: BDMRR discussion follow-up
Date:
26 November 2018 08:46:28 a.m.
Attachments:
image001.png
BDMRR Bill - Joint briefing for Ministers IA and Corrections re amendments to address concerns about
placement of transgender prisoners.docx
image009.png
image010.png
Importance:
High
Draft briefing from DIA, let me know if you have any feedback (they’re implied all our current trans
prisoners are all male-to-female, is that right?)

Derek Senior | Principal Policy Adviser – Corrections Policy | Service Development |
Department of Corrections Ara Poutama Aotearoa | 44-52 The Terrace, Wellington 6011 |
s9(2)(a)
| [email address] |

P THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT

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From: Cathy Nijman [mailto:[email address]]
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Sent: 23 November 2018 4:09 p.m.
To: SENIOR, Derek (WELLHO)
Cc: Hayden Kerr; KENNEDY, Suzanne (WELLHO); s9(2)(a)
Subject: RE: BDMRR discussion follow-up
Importance: High
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Hi Derek

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Preliminary draft attached.  Hopefully I have accurately captured the information you sent to me
on Tuesday.  Could you please let me have any feedback by 2.00 pm Monday
the
, and I’ll update
the briefing before it is circulated for signature.  If at all possible I’d like to get it signed by Friday
30 November as we have to get another brief to the Minister IA (which I’ll consult you on) by
under
Monday 3 December. That brief will cover the s9(2)(h)
, and the advice to the GA
Committee for 19 December.  And we’ll need confirmation/approval of the current
recommendations to finalise that briefing.

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The current draft briefing doesn’t include comment on overseas jurisdictions’ operational
practices for managing transgender prisoners or changes to the Corrections Regulations
unrelated to the Bill.  That information could be included in a Corrections-specific briefing for
your Minister (which will obviously be required if the proposal to revoke the “birth certificate
rule” is approved because you’ll need to do a LEG paper). I don’t think that info is needed for this
briefing, but if you have a different view, please let me know.

NB:  Very quick proof read only completed so no points for spotting typos – but feel free to point
any out!

Thanks for your help.

Regards.

Cathy N.

Cathy Nijman | Senior Policy Analyst | Policy Group
The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua
s9(2)(a)

St Paul’s Square | 45 Pipitea Street | PO Box 805, Wellington 6140, New Zealand |  www.dia.govt.nz
newdialogo

From: Cathy Nijman
Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2018 4:52 PM
To: 'SENIOR, Derek (WELLHO)'
Cc: Hayden Kerr; KENNEDY, Suzanne (WELLHO); s9(2)(a)
Subject: RE: BDMRR discussion follow-up

A week is a long time in politics …
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We may not have that long.  I’ll try and get something to you by the end of the week.  Given the
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timeframes that have been suggested for the ministerial roundtable the A-G has proposed
before we brief the GA Committee, the turnaround time could be 2 or 3 days – not within
officials’ control. We’ll be similarly squeezed.

Regards.
Information

Cathy N.
Official

Cathy Nijman | Senior Policy Analyst | Policy Group
the
The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua
s9(2)(a)

St Paul’s Square | 45 Pipitea Street | PO Box 805, Wellington 6140, New Zealand |  www.dia.govt.nz
under
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From: SENIOR, Derek (WELLHO) [mailto:[email address]]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2018 4:45 PM
To: Cathy Nijman
Cc: Hayden Kerr; KENNEDY, Suzanne (WELLHO); JOHNSON-s9(2)(a)
Subject: RE: BDMRR discussion follow-up

Hi Cathy

s9(2)(h)

I’ve also attached the suggested text from us for the joint briefing. Happy to review a draft when
needed. I’m picking that the senior managers here will want a bit of time to review and discuss before
they sign-off so maybe allow a week for that.

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Importance: High

Hi Derek,

FYI (in confidence) extract from our briefing to the Minister IA attached.  This covers the issues
related to the placement of transgender prisoners, and options for amending the Bill and the
Corrections Regulations.  Everything has been covered in our previous discussions so there
should be no surprises.  You will note we are seeking the Minister’s approval for a joint DIA-
Corrections briefing on this issue. I will need confirmation of Corrections’ position on proposed
amendments to the Corrections Regulations as a matter of urgency so this can be incorporated
into the joint briefing–and a briefing to the GA Committee.

You will note the GA Committee wants to receive the promised update briefing before the end
of the year.  I’ve left a couple of voicemail messages for you, but in short, the Clerk got back to
me on Monday to ask if the DIA/Corrections could brief the Committee on 28 November on the
transgender prisoner issue and other issues raised in the National Party minority view in the
Committee’s report.  I indicated 28 November not practicable, but 12 or 19 December should be
do-able.  Yes, the Committee is meeting on 19 December!  The Clerk was relatively relaxed about
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that as she agreed there is no point in DIA (and Corrections) fronting up on 28 November
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without the finalised briefing.  She was going to speak to Brett Hudson about the timing for the
briefing.

Pending confirmation from the Minister IA on how she wants to proceed on the other issues
covered in our process and options briefing, I am starting work on the joint briefing and the
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parallel briefing for the GA Committee.  If we are to brief the Committee in December, there
won’t be much time to finalise the briefings after we receive instructions from the Minister IA.
Official
s9(2)(h)

the

s9(2)(h)
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  As far as we aware, the A-G (S-G?) has
yet to write to the Minister IA.  When/if that happens, we’ll need to address any issues raised in
the joint briefing.

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Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

Regards.

Cathy N.

Cathy Nijman | Senior Policy Analyst | Policy Group
The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua
s9(2)(a)

St Paul’s Square | 45 Pipitea Street | PO Box 805, Wellington 6140, New Zealand |  www.dia.govt.nz
newdialogo

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