Trans prisoner Zoe Watts allegedly denied ‘life-saving’ medication

Jailers have stopped given vital medication to trans inmate Zoe Watts, according to her supporters.

The former Lincolnshire police worker was arrested in December and has been charged with possessing a firearm when prohibited for five years, possession of a firearm without a certificate and manufacturing a firearm.

Since her arrest, Watts has been held in the male wing of HMP Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire, despite having the necessary paperwork for her to be held with other female prisoners.

Activist group Justice4ZoeWatts has issued an update on Watts’ treatment, alleging that she “no longer has access to life-saving medication.”

A spokesperson for the group said: “She has not been provided with her prescription of [antidepressant] sertraline for the past week and [synthetic estrogen] estradiol valerate since [before] the weekend.”

Estradiol valerate can be used in hormone replacement therapy.

The group said the issue “has been raised with healthcare staff multiple time during the past week”, but they had had no response.

“Both medications are vital to her health and mental wellbeing,” the spokesperson said on Monday (20 January). “This is more important than ever, considering she is kept in a cell for a minimum of 23½ hours a day.”

Watts has reportedly been kept in her cell over concerns for her safety. She was only allowed out for approximately three minutes on Monday, Justice4ZoeWatts claimed.

Government policy states that trans women should be held in women’s prisons if they have the appropriate paperwork, such as a gender recognition certificate, and have not been charged with an offence of sexual violence.

Watts reportedly has the certificate, meaning she is legally recognised as female in the UK. She also has a female birth certificate and there has been no suggestion that she is on the sex offenders’ register.

In a statement, following a protest calling for her to be transferred to the female wing, Watts alleged that prison officers have treated her aggressively and routinely used transphobic language.

The conditions, she claimed, were having a “severe impact on [my] mental health”, adding: “This is a bigger issue than myself, it could affect all trans men, trans women and non-binary people. It is using out-of-date classifications, long behind society.”

Justice4ZoeWatts also claimed that male prisoners had been banging on the window as they walked past her cell.

“The prisoner population is now very aware of her presence in the men’s prison, further increasing the risk to her,” the spokesperson said.

PinkNews has contacted HMP Peterborough for comment.