A trans-identified male convicted of the rapes of two young women has slammed a recent Supreme Court Ruling which defines women as female, and has demanded to be transferred back into a women’s prison. Isla Bryson, whose birth name is Adam Graham, also boasted of having a physical relationship with a convicted pedophile since being moved into a detention center for men.
In 2023, Bryson’s case caused significant controversy as news of his rape trial, held in Glasgow, made international headlines. According to court documents, Bryson had been charged with raping two women with “her penis” — crimes which he committed in 2016 and 2019 before claiming to identify as transgender in 2022, while then awaiting trial for the attacks.
After the High Court in Glasgow found Bryson guilty, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. The sexual predator was then sent to female jail Cornton Vale, but following public outcry, was relocated to HMP Edinburgh, a men’s prison (also known as Saughton Prison).
Currently, Bryson is detained at HMP Glenochil, also a men’s prison, where he has told Scottish outlet The Daily Record that he has enjoyed “meeting men” and engaging in sexual relationships. The sex offender told journalists that he had been in a relationship with a man convicted of committing child sexual abuse.
“Can I be honest? I’m glad I’m in a male jail, and do you know why?” Bryson said. “Because if I was in a female jail I’d never be able to have relationships or met guys.”
Bryson then said that he had met the child sexual abuser in the men’s jail and that the two were involved for six months before he was relocated. “I was sleeping with him for six months. And basically he got moved. Obviously it was all consensual.”
Yesterday, The Daily Record published the contents of another phone call they had conducted with Bryson from prison. During the conversation, the convict supported plans undertaken by trans-identified male judge Victoria McCloud to challenge the government at the European Court of Human Rights over April’s Supreme Court ruling which defined ‘woman’ by biological sex under the law.
“No matter what you think or how you look at it, trans women will always be women. Even if you don’t agree with it, then that’s your opinion,” Bryson said. “We are not going to go away. Sooner or later judges will have to put trans women back in women’s prisons because if they don’t, trans women have the right to take it to the European court and they will.
“If they win and the courts say women have to go to women’s prisons, I will probably get moved to a women’s prison,” he added.
Just months after being sent to a men’s prison, Bryson lodged a formal hate crime complaint of ‘transphobia’ against an unnamed 24 year-old man who was “charged in connection with threatening and abusive behaviour,” according to a prison service spokesperson.
“I’m not doing too good because of abuse from the staff members, all because I am transgender, and other prisoners too,” Bryson wrote in a letter to the press. “This jail is full of transphobic people. The police are involved because of the abuse to do with my gender. People won’t stop being transphobic.”
In March 2024, HMP Glenochil governor Natalie Beal wrote a formal apology to Bryson following an incident in which a member of staff called Bryson “son,” which he claimed was also a form of ‘transphobia’.
“We do apologise if you felt disrespected but we do not believe that would have been the intention of the officer concerned,” said Beal.
“I’m just dealing with transphobia from staff,” Bryson wrote in a letter to the press the following month. “I was told from a staff member in Edinburgh that the MSP has been telling governors to treat trans women that come into the SPS [Scottish Prison Service] like men. It’s disgusting and a hate crime.”
Bryson added that his rights were being violated because he was not being permitted to have access to or wear makeup.
The convicted double rapist also wrote: “I want to make this clear, I don’t like women, I’m only into men.”
During Bryson’s trial for rape, he was called “vulnerable,” and the defending counsel argued that the he was “in no way a predatory male.” Defending him at the High Court in Glasgow, lawyer Edward Targowski was heard comparing Bryson to his victims, claiming that all three individuals involved in the case should be considered “vulnerable,” including the rapist.
“If you look at the circumstances, you do not have a predatory male — you have somebody who is vulnerable,” he added.
Targowski also leveraged Bryson’s self-declared transgender status in his defense, as reported by The Daily Mail, and told the court: “She is transitioning from male to female gender. If you accept that evidence, that she is transitioning, that she is aiming to continue on that path to becoming female gender, that goes a long way to acquitting her of these charges.”
News of the sexual predator’s initial transfer to a women’s prison in 2023 resulted in intense criticism of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Sturgeon had been one of the most prominent proponents of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill (GRR), which would have simplified the process by which an individual could change their sex marker on legal documents.
The bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament in December 2022 despite considerable pushback from women’s rights campaigners, including the organization For Women Scotland. However, the GRR was later blocked from becoming law by the UK government.
MP Ash Regan, who in 2022 resigned from her position with the SNP in protest over the GRR bill, responded to Bryson’s recent demands to return to a women’s prison on X, where she stated, “The answer is no.”
“When a double rapist has been emboldened by his government to demand access to vulnerable women, we have surely reached the end game. Women’s safety, dignity and privacy must never again be eroded by male entitlement in Scotland,” Regan wrote.
In October 2024, Sky News obtained a leaked internal memo which revealed that Police Scotland had intended to record Bryson as a female sex offender.
“When this individual comes back into contact with Police Scotland it would likely be a public protection matter in the management of sex offenders,” read the internal file, titled Sex and Gender.
“In this instance they may be recorded as a female with the name Isla Bryson however the trans history would be appropriate to be retained on relevant policing systems.”
The controversy over Bryson also saw the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), at the end of January 2023, halt the transfer of all trans-identified male prisoners to women’s facilities while undergoing a review of gender identity policies. A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: “We have commenced an urgent review of all transgender cases currently managed in our establishments… We have therefore paused the movement of all transgender individuals until the review has been completed.”
The updated policy now states: “Transgender women with a history of violence against women and girls are generally excluded from the women’s estate.”
Just days prior, the UK Government had updated its transgender prisoner policy, putting pressure on the SPS. The revised framework restricts males with intact genitalia, or those who have been convicted of a sexual offense, from being placed in the female estate.
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