Transgender British woman sent to men's prison loses appeal against sentence

LONDON – A transgender British woman who has been jailed for assault in a men's prison has lost an appeal against her sentence.

Tara Hudson, who has lived as a woman all her adult life, was sentenced last week to 12 weeks imprisonment for head-butting a bar manager.

The 26-year-old was sent to HMP Bristol, a men's prison in southwest England, where her lawyer, Nicholas Wragg, said she was "locked in a cell 23 hours a day."

Wragg argued she should be released to do community service.

Three judges at Bristol Crown Court rejected Hudson's appeal against the sentence Friday and said it was "for the prison service and not the court" to decide where it should be served.

But the judges urged "sensitive consideration" of where Hudson should be held.