Transgender Woman Prisoner is Requesting Diapers Because She now Identifies as a Baby

Sophie Eastwood (formerly known as Daniel) now identifies herself as a babyScreengrab from Daily Record

Only a month before he was to be released from a Scottish prison, Daniel Eastwood murdered his cellmate and was sentenced to life behind bars. Fourteen years later, in 2018, Daniel told the prison staff that he was no longer Daniel but identified as a woman and was to be addressed as Sophie. Although the prison staff was confused to decide whether it would be a female or a male guard who could carry out Sophie’s routine checks, the prison staff took Sophie’s request serious and accommodated her.

Nevertheless, 36-year-old Sophie has now made a new claim and identifies as a baby, requesting to be treated as an infant. She further requested diapers to be provided for her and asked the prison staff to puree her food. But, shockingly, her demands don’t stop there. She also wants the prison guards to hold her hand when she is escorted to and from her cell. According to reports, the prison staff is taking Sophie’s demands seriously, and to show just how serious her demands were taken; prison bosses gave her a dummy.

Besides Eastwood being a hardened and a dangerous criminal, she has been hospitalized several times for intentionally eating razor blades which earned her the moniker “Hannibal Lecter.” In addition, she has a history of an unstable behavior and a violent temper.

Besides her history of violence and instability, Sophie is manipulative and is known for being intelligent. About her character, a prison officer said,

“Eastwood is a complex person and intelligent but she is pretty demanding on the resources of the prison and enjoys being the centre of attention. It’s difficult to know if she really does feel a natural inclination to be treated like a baby or if it’s just some kind of attention seeking.”Nevertheless, if the authorities accept her latest demands, baby Sophie will set a precedent where any criminal serving a life sentence could expect any bizarre request they make to be considered.

At the moment, authorities are worried after reports emerged that almost half of transgender inmates in Scotland began transitioning after being convicted. One such worried official is the former Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill who said,

“This is extremely worrying. The statistics confirm the anecdotal evidence that some male prisoners are opting to self ID as females not through any desire to transgender but to avoid being imprisoned in the male estate. That is an abuse of the system and a threat to vulnerable women. It’s one thing protecting the rights of transgender prisoners but quite another to be facilitating what’s a fraud and extremely harmful.”

Similarly, there are about 4,890 transgender prisoners across the United States, and States such as California are already considering gender identity housing requests. New laws have also been enacted in California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts which allow inmates to be addressed and searched based on their preferred gender identity. Furthermore, an Illinois judge has ordered the federal bureau of prisons to secure a gender-affirming surgery for a transgender federal prisoner in what will be the first in the country’s history.

Although the authorities have already shown a positive attitude towards Sophie Eastwood’s demands, time will tell whether society would allow dangerous adult criminals serving life sentences to identify themselves as babies and be treated a such. However, even if the Scottish authorities accept Sophie as a baby, what gender would she belong to, and would she need carers to look after her?

In whichever way one looks at Sophie’s latest request, one can’t help but feel uncertainty as to where society would draw the line on critical social issues. Nevertheless, 36-year-old Sophie, who was a Daniel only a few years ago, has drawn the line that she is now an infant baby.