Ministry of the Interior
Subject: Penitentiary Integration of Transsexual Persons
Area of Application: Penitentiary Centers
Descriptors: Transsexuals
The Administration of Penitentiaries, under the Directive of February 12, 2001,
established the criteria to arrange the admission of transsexual detainees within the
frame of internal separation based on sex, established by article 16 of the Organic Law
of Sep 26, 1979, General Penitentiary. By this means it was established as criteria that
the ‘apparent sexual identity’ of these persons is taken into consideration, such as their
physical characteristics and their external appearance.
The inclusion of other criteria, such as psycho-social gender identity could continue to
open spaces of exclusion for those transsexual persons whose gender identity is
discordant with their legal one, their physiology and their external appearance.
To address this situation, a procedure is established to make the criteria for positive
action effective for these persons as an instrument to advance their standardized social
integration, both inside and outside the jail precincts : With the mandatory information
from medical and psychological evaluation and the recognition of the individual’s
psycho-social gender identity, in regard to prisons housing trans people, they must
make accommodations so that transsexual persons without a legal gender that agrees
with their identity, will be able to have access to modules and conditions for reclusion
that are adequate to their condition.
FIRST. General Criteria. Application
1. Transsexual persons, who have legal sex not in accordance with their psychosocial gender identity, can request from the Administration of Penitentiaries for
the recognition of their gender identity and thus be housed accordingly as
suggested in article 16 of The General Penitentiary Organic Law of Sep. 16,
1979. The recognition, in this case, will adjust to the terms and conditions
established in the present directive.

2. The recognition of the gender identity applied for does not imply a new legal
gender identity either within or outside of the penitentiary enclosures.
SECOND. Rights and Responsibilities.
1. In the application of gender identity, recognized as it pertains to penitentiaries
these persons will have the right to:
The personal dignity and the respect corresponding to the recognized identity,
including incarceration in the gender corresponding centers or modules
The practice of frisking by electronic methods and, in every case, by a person of the
same gender, in accordance with the recognized gender identity.
Access to collective facilities within the penitentiary and the right to protection from
intimidation and rights infringement from the rest of the persons utilizing said facilities.
Access to specialized health services for the process of gender transition within the
established conditions of citizenship for public welfare to corresponding health services.
Along these same lines, the guarantee to prescription hormone treatment
along with health services with periodic medical supervision.
To equality and freedom from discrimination from the rest of the incarcerated
population in accessing penitentiary services, professional development or penitentiary
work.
To suitable incarceration treatment in accordance to their criminal and penitentiary
records, with total acceptance of their psycho-social gender identity.
2. At the same time, they will have to adjust their behavior to the fulfillment of the
duties/responsibilities established in article 5 of the Penitentiary Regulations,
approved by Real Decree 190 of Feb 9, 1996.
3. The Administration will insist the use of the name appropriate to their gender
identity, group dynamics and interpersonal relations, with the exclusion of official
communications, including those that document, where the official accredited
name will continue to be used.
THIRD. Request for recognition of psycho-social gender identity.
Provisional Measures.
1. In the event of an application request during admission at a center, the personnel
of the Penitentiary Administration will give them the corresponding form (APPENDIX

1).This form will have to be accepted in a sign of conformity, having previous
information of the procedure, provisional effects and conditions of the incarceration,
until its definitive resolution.
Transsexual persons entering facilities can make the request at the moment they
consider opportune.
2. The Center’s Direction will adopt the necessary provisional measures for their
incarceration guaranteeing the maximum protection of the personal right to gender
identity self –determination, until the definitive resolution of the expedient.
Also, in the case of an absence of sufficient base for an accredited claim of the
person applying with a penitentiary history, the Direction will have the motivation to
refuse the previous provisional measures.
3. In the event that a person, upon entering, did not make such a request and has a
contradiction between their physiological sex and/or their officially assigned gender
identity, the Administration will inform them of the content of the present disposition.
In the case of no formal request being made on this matter, the person should be
placed in accordance with their external appearance and physiological sex, noted in
their enclosed medical report.
FOURTH. Evaluation. Resolution.
1. The Center’s Direction, upon viewing the request, will order the transaction of the
corresponding file. The request might have to be accompanied by informational
elements and proof deemed necessary, within a term of 30 days from its delivery.
In a period of no more than 30 days from receipt of all the documentation, the
corresponding penitentiary services will produce a medical and psycho-social
report, along with vital and social trajectory of the person and their psychological,
medical, and physiological situation.
The previous term might be able to be extended by express agreement of the
Center’s Direction, exclusively, for the same period and with a motive.

2. The medical report will detail the physiological-sexual reality of the interested
person and, in case of having the information about the followed processes or
initiatives for transexualization/transitioning and the current state of such
processes/initiatives, as well as any available relevant information in the clinical
history with regards to previous gender conformity.
3. The psychological report, taking into consideration the medical report, will also
have to report on:
a) The dissonance between physical gender of origin and the psychological
feeling, as well as the coincidence and stability of this dissonance with a
psycho-social trajectory of a period at least twelve months.
b) Absence of personality disorders that could influence in a determinate
way their election of gender identity.
c) Evaluation of the presence of gender dysphoria in sexual identity.
4. Upon viewing the aforementioned documentation, The Center’s Direction will
resolve during a period of no longer than 15 days, addressing this issue with
motivation, especially in the case of a negative resolution.
5. In the event of placement of persons in a preventive situation and whose positive
resolution implies the transfer of locality or Center because of insufficient of
accommodations in the present location, the decision will be adopted in a
provisional manner and it will be brought to the attention of competent Judicial
authority, so that it may be resolved.
In case of denied admission to the corresponding transfer, the Center’s Direction
will adopt the necessary measures to guarantee suitable penitentiary reclusion
adequate to their gender identity.

6. The resolution regarding the request raised will have firm character at the
effected of penitentiaries, with the exception of the modification of official gender,
or the arranged in the following section.
FIFTH. Execution.

1. A positive resolution will be shared individually, indicating the new destination.
The Penitentiary Administration will establish whether or not the individual is
maintained at the same center, prioritizing staying in the current space and taking
into consideration the zone of social and/or vital status, the procedural situation
of the person, their classification, their needs of penitentiary treatment, and the
availability of accommodations in the penitentiary.
Administration will execute this procedure in as shortest time possible.
2. In the event of a positive resolution of the pretension and there is a lack of
resources at the center for which the order is given, the Center’s Direction will
have to adopt the provisional measures that it deems convenient, until the
corresponding transfer happens, which should occur as quickly as possible.
3. Within ten days following a negative notification, the interested person can repetition the Penitentiary Center for a new psychological report specially when the
ones emitted previously were a determining factor in the adopted resolution.
This report will be required of the corresponding territorial public services.
Upon reviewing the new report, the Center’s Direction will confirm or revise its
previous resolution. The confirmation of the previous negative resolution will
have to be pronounced within the content of the newly released report,
incorporated into the file.
4. A negative resolution will result in the placement location of the person in
accordance with the criteria established in the THIRD clause. 3, of the present
Directive. However, for reasons of security and upon the request of the person,
the Direction of the Center can adopt the necessary measures, in agreement with
art. 75 of the 190 RD Feb 9, 1996, by which the Penitentiary Regulations are
approved.
SIXTH. Resource. Revision.
1. In fighting against a negative resolution of request, the interested person can
raise the issue before the General Director of Penitentiary Institutions, without

prejudice, exercise other actions anticipated in the penitentiary ordering.
1. The revision of gender identity resolutions will be able to, at the request of the
part, in the appearance of new relevant circumstances of psycho-social gender
identity and the following established procedures in the present Instruction.
DEPOSITION REAPEAL
ONLY ONE. Be repealed the Circulation of 1/2001, Feb 12, of The General
Direction of Penitentiary Institutions, by which criteria are approved regarding
imprisonment of transsexual inmates.
FINAL DISPOSITION.
FIRST. In the term of a year, from when this takes effect, the Penitentiary
Administration will evaluate the application and effectiveness of the present
Directive, adopting, in any case, the necessary measures to guarantee the pursued
purpose.
Madrid, March 9, 2006
THE GENERAL DIRECTOR OF PENITENTIARY INSTITUTIONS

Mercedes Gallizo Llamas

APPENDIX 1
DIRECTIVE 7/06, de la DGIP
REGARDING PENITENTIARY INTEGRATION
OF TRANSSEXUAL PERSONS

APPLICATION FOR GENDER IDENTITY RECOGNITION TO THE EFFECT OF
ARTICLE 16 OF THE ORGANIC LAW SEP 26, 1979, OF THE GENERAL
PENTINTIARY
GENERAL DIRECTION OF PENITENTIARY INSTITUIONS
Mr/Ms. ______(indicate legal name)___________,with ID num.________________,
admitted to the Central Penitentiary ___________________, addresses by this
means the Direction and knowing the content, effects and application of the Directive
______________of the DGIP, regarding integration of transsexual persons.
REQUEST
The recognition, to the effect of penitentiaries, of my gender identity as
________________(indicate man/woman)
In support of this demand,
RELEASE
1. (To report on their physiological situation, clinical data and medical references
that support this request)
2. (To report on their psychological and social experiences)
3. (To reveal biographical data that accompanies the request)
Which we request in

, of

of

(date)

(Signature)
Name and Surname