Over 100,000 people have joined an online petition that calls for a transgender woman to be allowed to serve her prison sentence in a female prison.

Thousands against UK transgender woman being sent to all-male prison.

Tara Hudson, 26, has been living all her adult life as a woman, but after she pleaded guilty to a December 2014 assault, the court in Bath, the UK made the decision to sentence the man-turned-woman to twelve weeks in HM Prison Bristol, an all-male prison in Horfield.

According to the Bath Chronicle, Hudson was sent to prison on Friday, but her mother, Jackie Brooklyn, said she found the decision outrageous, because after going through six years of gender reconstruction surgery, Hudson has an appearance of woman, and is also confirmed by her doctor as a woman.

“When they said they were taking her to [HMP Bristol at] Horfield I was horrified,” the BBC quoted Brooklyn as saying, “I don’t think she’ll cope with it very well. She’s lived as a woman for so long. She is a woman.”

An online petition was launched three days ago on change.org, appealing to the Bath magistrates to move Hudson to a female prison, and to stop “placing her in extreme danger of abuse, sexual violence, and even death”, as the petition put it.

The authorities argued that it is a “longstanding policy” to place offenders according to their legally recognized gender. But according to International Business Times UK, it is a “difficult and lengthy process” for transgender people to gain legal recognition, as it takes a £140 fee, diagnosis and letters from medical professionals, showing evidence of having lived in their chosen gender and an approval from a gender recognition panel to acquire a Gender Recognition Certificate.

The petition also stressed the urgent need for the UK judicial system to put the rights of people like Hudson into consideration.

“In an era of unprecedented victories for LGBT rights, people like Tara Hudson are still paying a high price at the hands of an outdated and outmoded judicial system, simply for being who they are,” wrote the petition.

According to the Bath Chronicle, the decision is now under appeal, and will be heard in a Bristol court on October 30.

BY AMANDA CAMERON, BATH CRHONICLESOURCE