Leigh Day & Co has this week successfully concluded a judicial review challenge on behalf of our client, Mr W, an inmate at HMP Dovegate between 2006 and 2008, against Serco Home Affairs Ltd, the private company responsible for running HMP Dovegate, in relation to their failure to provide him with treatment for his gender dysphoria condition.

Mr W has a gender dysphoria condition.  He has a gender identity that he feels is different from his anatomical sex.  Put simply, he feels as if he is a woman trapped in a man’s body.

This is a long-standing condition.  He has been seen by two gender dysphoria experts who confirm that he has this condition and that he would benefit from treatment and care.  As a first step, they consider that he requires counselling to explore the issues surrounding his gender dysphoria before further treatment, such as being prescribed female hormones or surgery, can be considered.

This treatment is available to those in the wider community with gender dysphoria issues.  The Prison Service confirm that prisoners are entitled to the same standard of treatment and care as those in the wider community.

However, despite numerous complaints by Mr W and then a formal letter before action by this firm, HMP Dovegate refused to take the necessary steps to refer him for this treatment.

In light of this, Leigh Day & Co commenced a judicial review challenge on behalf of Mr W in June 2006 on the basis that HMP Dovegate / Serco Home Affairs Ltd had failed to provide our client with adequate treatment and care and that this breached his human rights.

In their Summary Defence of July 2006, HMP Dovegate tried to argue that Mr W did not have gender dysphoria, despite overwhelming medical evidence to the contrary.  They also tried to argue that it was for Mr W’s community GP rather than the Prison to refer him for the necessary treatment, again contrary to clear Department of Health and Prison Service guidance.

Shortly before an oral hearing in December 2006, HMP Dovegate agreed to take steps to refer Mr W for gender dysphoria treatment.  However, after taking very limited steps in January and February 2007, they failed to identify a Gender Identity Clinic willing to treat Mr W.  They refused to take any additional steps, despite Mr W and Leigh Day & Co identifying Gender Identity Specialists who were willing to treat him.

At a further oral hearing in July 2008, the Judge granted Mr W permission to apply for judicial review and ordered HMP Dovegate to contact further Gender Identity Clinics through England and Wales.  As a result of this, a number of Gender Identity Clinics confirmed that they were willing to treat Mr W.

Mr W was finally seen by a Gender Identity Specialist in November 2007 who agreed to treat Mr W.  This, and the fact that Mr W was released from HMP Dovegate in January 2008, meant it was not necessary to proceed further with the substantive issues of the challenge.

However, at a hearing on 3rd November 2008, the Court ordered that HMP Dovegate / Serco Home Affairs Ltd should pay Mr W’s reasonable legal costs relating to the judicial review challenge.  The Judge stated that he was entirely satisfied that Mr W had gender dysphoria and that if the case had continued then Mr W would have been successful.  He was also highly critical of HMP Dovegate / Serco Home Affairs Ltd’s behaviour throughout this matter, describing their actions as being those of prevarication and delay.

During the course of the case, Mr W was in receipt of public funding ("legal aid").  Mr W is grateful for the vital support of the Special Cases Unit of the Legal Services Commission in bringing this matter to a successful conclusion.

Leigh Day & Co has instructed Shaheen Rahman, a barrister at 1 Crown Office Row specialising in prison healthcare issues, in Mr W’s case.

For more information please contact Sean Humber or Benjamin Burrows on 020 7650 1200.