Quebec Jails to House Transgender Inmates By Anatomical Sex

Transgender inmates in Quebec will now be placed in provincial detention centres according to their anatomical sex, the province has announced.

Transgender individuals in the past had the option to request placement in the detention facility of their preference and could be segregated from the general population for security purposes.

The change is being made to ensure the safety of all incarcerated persons, Public Safety Minister François Bonnardel said in a June 18 statement.

“With this new direction, the Quebec government is ensuring fairness in the treatment of all inmates in Quebec,” Bonnardel said. “Safety must always come first, for the benefit of correctional officers, our fellow citizens, and incarcerated individuals.”

Transgender inmates will be permitted to identify with the gender of their choice in detention facilities, Bonnardel said, adding that additional “accommodations” may be possible.

A security assessment is conducted upon admission to all detention facilities to determine the appropriate classification, the public safety minister’s office said. All inmates are subjected to this form of evaluation when they arrive at a provincial correctional facility.

Correctional officers will also undergo training and receive a “best practices guide” that includes information regarding sexual and gender diversity as well as the rights of LGBT individuals, the ministry said in the statement.

The office of the Minister of Public Safety said individuals identifying as transgender make up 0.1 percent of the prison population, equalling roughly one out of every 900 inmates, as of June 13.

The announcement comes after a high-profile murder case provoked debate earlier this year on whether transgender inmates should be given the choice to serve their time in men’s or women’s prisons based on the gender they identify with.

Convicted killer Mohamad Al Ballouz, who currently identifies as a woman and uses the name Levana, asked to serve time in a women’s prison after being convicted of the 2022 murders of wife Synthia Bussières and their two young sons in the Montreal suburb of Brossard, Que.

Ballouz was given a sentence of life with no chance of parole for 25 years during a Dec. 20 sentencing hearing for the second-degree murder of Bussières, and the first-degree murders of their sons, five-year-old Eliam and two-year-old Zac.

Justice Eric Downs said he considered the “extreme violence” and brutal manner in which Bussières was stabbed 23 times as well as “the sadistic character of the accused” when pronouncing the sentence.

His request to be incarcerated in a federal women’s prison was ultimately denied. Inmates in federal prisons can still request to be placed in institutions based on their chosen gender.