Alarm Raised Over Prison Safety After Claims of Assault by Trans Inmate

A leading Australian women’s rights group says the South Australian government has failed to act more than a month after a woman claimed to have been assaulted.

Shame is one of the primary barriers preventing recovery. Bricolage/Shutterstock

A prominent women’s rights group has accused the South Australian government of failing to protect women in custody, amid what it says amounts to inaction after a former female prisoner claimed she was sexually assaulted by her male-to-female transgender cellmate.

Women’s Forum Australia CEO Rachael Wong addressed media in Adelaide, saying the group’s correspondence to both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and South Australian Mayor Peter Malinauskas had been met with “idleness” exactly one month after the group demanded change.

Concerns escalated after Malinauskas described the situation as “niche.”

Allegations of Assault

In early October, a former female prisoner known as “Katie” came forward alleging she had been sexually assaulted in her cell by trans prisoner Krista Richards—formerly Graham Richards—a notorious criminal figure and former brothel owner convicted of attempted assassination.

Katie was serving time for driving offences during 2019, her first time in custody. She said she has since turned her life around after struggling with drug use and now regularly attends church.

However, the young woman alleges her complaints to prison staff were ignored, and that she was forced to remain in her cell with Richards for several days after the alleged assault.

Wong claims other women have also come forward—two claiming to have been assaulted and another alleging she was raped.

Former prison staff have also described Richards as an “intimidating figure” within the facility.

Advocates Say SA Is Lagging Behind Other States

Wong criticised South Australia for being the only state that had not acted on the issue.

She said it had been exactly one month since she wrote to all state and territory leaders to ban biological men from women’s prisons, but felt her pleas had been ignored by South Australia.

“Since then, the Northern Territory has enacted a ban,” she said.

“New South Wales and Victoria are reviewing their policies, and just yesterday, it was confirmed that Tasmania is also going to be keeping prisons single-sex and banning male offenders from women’s prisons.

“Up until now, the South Australian government has done nothing, and this is despite the fact that sexual assaults have been alleged within women’s prisons in South Australia by not one, but multiple women.”

There were eight sexual assaults reported in South Australian women’s prisons during the 2023-24 financial year, although some incidents involved two biological women.

Giggle for Girls app founder Sall Grover also spoke outside parliament to rebut claims of Katie’s alleged assault being a “niche” issue.

“We’re having a situation where anytime a man claims to be a woman, he’s instantly believed, but anytime women say no to such a blatant lie, we’re dismissed again,” she said.

“We’re called niche. It’s called a culture war, anything to try and silence us and get us out of the conversation.”

Head of advocacy at Women’s Forum Australia, Stephanie Bastian, said most female prisoners were not hardened criminals and had experienced abuse before entering custody.

“Instead of prison time in South Australia being a place for them to get back on the straight and narrow, because of South Australia’s prison policy, they are now having to grapple and deal with a violent convicted male offender in their prison,” she said.

“It is wrong and it is unjust, and this policy needs to change.”

Questions Raised in Parliament

Two days earlier, One Nation MP Sarah Game addressed the claims in Parliament, saying women had reportedly been assaulted at both Port Augusta and Adelaide Women’s Prison facilities.

She cited the state’s Department for Correctional Services’ policy:

“The department is committed to meeting the needs of transgender and intersex prisoners and ensuring their safety is not compromised, and the department advises that transgender prisoners will have an individualised management plan developed to take into consideration their needs,” she said.

Game asked the government to confirm if it stood by calling the issue “niche,” whether biological men were being enabled to remain in women’s prisons, and what proof existed to guarantee women’s safety.

Responding on behalf of the government, South Australian Deputy Premier Kyam Maher said the matters were largely the domain of Correctional Services.

“Anytime there are allegations of a criminal offence, whether within a prison or outside a prison, we would all expect that they would be properly investigated and consideration be given to prosecution,” he said.

The Epoch Times contacted South Australia’s Premier and Correctional Services for comment.