Article 16: Article 16: Prisons Beyond the Binary: Reimagining Correctional Practice for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming People in Custody

Contemporary prison systems remain largely structured around cis-normative, binary assumptions of gender, with architecture, management, and everyday practices organised around and between ‘male’ and ‘female’. However, the increasing recognition of gender diversity poses emerging and substantive questions for correctional policy and practice. This paper examines responses to such challenges in a range of jurisdictions within which prison systems have moved past the gender binary in some way. Drawing on emerging research and practice this paper argues that a shift toward individualised, rights-based approaches is essential to reduce harm, improve safety, and uphold gender-affirming dignity. Moving beyond the binary is not only a symbolic gesture toward inclusion, but a practical necessity for the legitimacy and humanity of modern correctional institutions.