Achi news desk-
After being found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow, Bryson was sent to women’s prison, Cornton Vale, causing a political scandal for the SNP, before later moving to the men’s prison estate.
Bryson was sentenced to eight years at the High Court in Edinburgh, with a further three years on licence.
The sex offender claimed he had received an apology after complaining about being “mistreated” and called “son” by a female member of staff, in a handwritten letter to the Sunday Mail.
Isla Bryson, formerly known as Adam Graham (Image: (Police Scotland/PA))Bryson was found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow in January 2023.
The former DJ had first appeared as Adam Graham but began to identify as a woman while on bail and appeared to stand trial under the name Isla Bryson.
Bryson wrote: “I’m just dealing with transphobia from staff.
“I was told by a member of staff in Edinburgh that the MSP has been telling governors to treat trans women coming into the SPS (Scottish Prison Service) like men.
“It’s disgusting and a hate crime.”
READ MORE: Scottish Prison Service in new secret row over controversial trans policy
The letter added: “They refuse to give out any feminine toiletries or cosmetics.
“I’m on suppressants just now. I have boobs. I don’t sound like a man anymore.”
Bryson was found guilty of raping one woman in Clydebank in 2016 and another in nearby Drumchapel in 2019, but insisted: “I’m only men.”
Bryson admitted to having a five-month relationship with a fellow prisoner who was jailed for six years in 2019 for pedophilia and drugs, as well as a three-week relationship with a prisoner called Colin.
The letter added: “I want to make this clear, I don’t like women, I just like men.”
Isla Bryson sits in the back of a prison van leaving Edinburgh High Court (Image: (Andrew Milligan / PA))Natalie Beal, the governor of HMP Glenochil male prison, wrote to Bryson last month following the incident where a member of staff called Bryson a “son”, and said the SPS officer “immediately apologized after realizing their mistake”, the paper reported new.
The letter said Bryson, during the investigation, was unable to identify the date, time or name of the officers involved in either incident, and no witnesses were found, the Sunday Mail reported.
Ms Beal said in the letter that a separate, unclear incident involving a metal detector was an oversight by a prison officer who “may not have realized” at the time that Bryson was a trans inmate.
Ms Beal was said to have added: “We apologize if you felt disrespected but we do not believe that was the intention of the officer in question.”
READ MORE: The SNP minister refuses to say whether a double rapist is a man
The SPS has previously said it is committed to a culture of equal opportunity and diversity and is said to have a range of clothing, including any gender, to fit individual prisoners, the Sunday Mail reported.
Rhona Hotchkiss, former governor of Cornton Vale, told the Sunday Mail: “Abuse is not a hate crime and that has become clear since the stupid hate crime law came into force.
“People have been doing it left, right and center and not been prosecuted.
“Also last year Humza Yousaf herself said about Isla Bryson’s Adam Graham ‘he’s at it’ so I would suggest that if the SPS think that is any kind of crime they should raise the issue with Mr Yousaf and see what he thinks.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: “We do not comment on individuals.”
