Below is a draft of our submission on the Definitions of Woman and Man Bill, also known as the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendments Bill. Click here to make your own submission against the Bill. Submissions close 11.59pm, Thursday, 02 July 2026

We also have a guide to writing submissions here.

PAPA began as an organisation called No Pride in Prisons, in response to the inhumane and unsafe treatment of transgender people in the justice system. Since our inception we have centred the treatment of queer and trans people in prison. We changed our name to People Against Prisons Aotearoa in 2017 to reflect our work on issues faced by all people in the criminal justice system. However, we remain committed to queer and trans liberation, and improving conditions for trans people in prison remains at the heart of our kaupapa.

We are therefore submitting strongly in opposition to this Bill. This Bill would be a step backwards for human rights, for the safety of trans people, and for the standard of basic human decency that our laws should protect. The Bill is a direct threat to some of the most vulnerable people that we have worked alongside for the past eleven years.

The impact of this Bill would be very broad, and we tautoko the many submissions that we are sure the committee will receive, that will undoubtedly highlight the myriad injustices and harms that the Bill would introduce. However, our submission will focus narrowly on its impact on people in prison.

The current system

1. At present, Corrections has detailed policies for the management and placement of trans people in prison. These policies allow for individualised, case-by-case decisions about where a trans person is placed, taking into account their gender identity, their safety, and the safety of others. Trans people in prison can apply for a review of their placement, case managers develop support plans for them.

2. Existing policies already include safeguards for both the trans person and the people with whom they would be incarcerated. For example, current policies give discretion for prison directors in the placement of trans people, and exclude from placement review anyone convicted of, or on remand for, serious sexual offences against a person of their nominated sex.

3. This system remains flawed. There is no safe and dignified way to incarcerate anyone, but trans people are particularly vulnerable in prisons. Corrections has at times failed to follow its own policies, resulting in trans people being strip-searched by officers of the wrong gender, placed in prisons that do not align with their gender identity, and subjected to violence and sexual assault. These failures are serious and highlight how much more work is needed to ensure the safety and dignity of trans people in our prisons. 

4. This Bill would have the opposite effect, undermining the current efforts of Corrections and endangering trans people.

The Bill would force Corrections into unsafe placement decisions

5. The Bill defines “woman” as “an adult human biological female” and “man” as “an adult human biological male” across all New Zealand legislation. The Corrections Act 2004 requires prisoners to be detained in separate men’s and women’s prisons. If the definitions in this Bill apply to the Corrections Act, the effect would be to require Corrections to place trans women into men’s prisons.

6. This is dangerous. Research consistently shows that trans people in prison are at a dramatically higher risk of violence and sexual assault, as we discuss below in 12-13. Corrections has a legal duty to keep people in its care safe. This Bill would make it harder for Corrections to discharge that duty.

7. The current Corrections policy does allow for nuanced decision-making. A trans person’s reasons for preferring a particular placement are complex. Where they will feel safest is often the most important factor, and this can change over time. The Bill replaces this individualised, safety-driven approach with a rigid biological classification that takes no account of the actual risks a person faces, or poses, in a particular placement.

The Bill would increase the use of harmful and degrading practices like segregation and isolation

8. When trans people cannot be safely housed in the general population of the prison they are placed in, the default response is segregation, usually involving significant and extended periods of solitary isolation. Corrections policy already requires trans prisoners to be placed in a cell on their own. If the Bill forces trans women into men’s prisons where they face heightened risk of violence, the predictable result is more time in isolation for their “protection.”

9. As we have set out in other submissions, segregation and isolation cause serious harm. Prolonged isolation damages mental health, increases rates of self-harm and suicide, and undermines any prospect of rehabilitation or successful reintegration. Trans people in prison already experience disproportionate rates of psychological distress, self-harm, and suicidality. Forcing them into environments where their only option for safety is isolation will make this worse.

10. The Bill also has implications for how searches are conducted. Current Corrections policy allows trans prisoners to choose the gender of officers who conduct strip searches and pat-downs. If the Bill’s definitions apply, this policy would be undermined. Trans women could be required to be searched by male officers. The trauma and degradation this would cause is self-evident.

The Bill will not make prisons, or women, safer

11. The stated purpose of this Bill is to protect women. But it will not make women’s prisons safer, and will directly endanger trans women.

12. Trans people are already at greater risk of violence, and sexual violence, than cisgender people. Trans women are the victims of sexual assault at twice the rate of cisgender women, while trans men are eleven times more likely to be sexually assaulted than cis men. Nearly half of trans and non-binary people in Aotearoa have been the victim of attempted sexual assault.

13. In prisons, which are already dangerous and violent places, these outcomes are amplified even further. While no quantitative data exists on the magnitude of the problem in Aotearoa, studies overseas show that trans women incarcerated in men’s prisons are thirteen times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the men with whom they are incarcerated – who themselves are much more at risk of violence and sexual assault than the general population.

14. Clearly, the decisions that Corrections makes about placement, double bunking, searches, and access to facilities directly determine whether a person is safe or in danger.

15. Corrections already excludes from placement review any trans person convicted of serious sexual offences against a person of their nominated sex. The existing framework already provides for safety assessments and risk management. This Bill removes the tools Corrections uses to keep a vulnerable group of people safe, and replaces them with a rigid rule that cannot account for individual circumstances.

16. If anything, the Bill will make prisons less safe. People who are placed in environments where they face persistent risk of violence are more likely to experience crisis, more likely to self-harm, and more likely to need emergency intervention. This diverts resources, creates risk for staff, and undermines the stability of the prison environment.

Recommendations

17. We recommend that the committee reject this Bill entirely, and recognise that Corrections’ existing policy framework for the management and placement of trans prisoners needs improvement, rather than undermining.

18. If the Bill proceeds in any form, we recommend that it explicitly exempts the Corrections Act 2004 and all associated regulations and operational policies from its definitions, so that Corrections retains the discretion to make placement and management decisions on the basis of individual safety assessments.