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Authorities are refusing to disclose the details of a secret settlement paid to a female inmate assaulted by a transgender prisoner who was serving a sentence for murder, with Premier Jacinta Allan saying the payout was a “private matter”.
The confidential settlement is the result of an assault by inmate Clinton Rintoull, who was serving a sentence in a women’s prison for a brutal murder in 2009. It follows an overhaul of the way transgender and gender-diverse prisoners are managed by Corrections Victoria.
Under the new guidelines, which came into effect in January, authorities are required to explicitly consider the risks associated with housing transgender inmates when determining which facilities to place them in.
When asked about the sexual assault payout on Friday, Allan said she was not able to comment as it was a “private matter”.
The payout relates to a civil claim not criminal charges.
Neither Allan nor Corrections Minister Enver Erdogan faced reporters in Melbourne on Friday, but Children’s Minister Lizzie Blandthorn said the government was ready to act to do more if deemed necessary, but she would not reveal details of the payout.
“The safety and wellbeing of prisoners is what is paramount in the considerations in prisoner placement,” she said.
“If the new policy was not to work in a way that gave that intent, then we stand ready to do more as we need to.”
The Herald Sun, which first revealed the secret payout, reported that Rintoull, born a biological male, transitioned while serving a sentence for murder and was allowed to move to a woman’s facility.
Rintoull sexually assaulted a female inmate in 2022.
Rintoull was sentenced to 20 years’ jail with a non-parole period of 16 years in 2009, for the 2007 murder of Sudanese refugee Liep Gony.
The then-25-year-old beat the 19-year-old over the head with a metal pole, having spray-painted “f— da n—s” on the wall of his rented Noble Park house. A judge found that the murder was not racially motivated.
Rintoull was freed into the community on parole in 2024, according to the Herald Sun. Rintoull’s new name is not known.
Payouts of more than $10,000 to former prisoners are usually required to be disclosed on a government gazette. As of Friday, no such payout to a female prisoner was disclosed.
A Corrections Victoria spokeswoman would not comment on the case but said notices of damages were placed as soon as practicable after proceedings are finalised.
Erdogan in October last year ordered Corrections Victoria to overhaul policies for the management of transgender prisoners to protect women.
“There is a balance of what is best for the individual prisoner plus what is best for the safety and wellbeing of other prisoners in the system, especially in the women’s system,” he said in parliament.
Corrections Victoria formally updated its policies in January, stating that the safety and welfare of all prisoners – including transgender prisoners – should be the paramount consideration when placing gender-diverse prisoners in a male or female facility.
The new policy does not ban violent transgender prisoners from women’s facilities, but requires Corrections Victoria to make an individual assessment on each trans and gender-diverse prisoner’s prison placement.
This assessment is required to consider, among other things, the nature of the prisoner’s offending; the risk they pose to others; and the prisoner’s gender identity and placement preference.
According to the policy, if a transgender person asks to be sent to the women’s system but is charged with sexual or violent offences against women and/or children, they could be separated from other prisoners while further risk assessments are conducted.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has pledged that a Coalition government would ban biological males convicted of sexual offences or serious violent crimes from female prisons.
“The circumstances today demonstrate that the safety of female prisoners isn’t being considered by the government under the current guidelines,” she said.
“We’ve had a female prisoner being put at risk and assaulted, and it comes back to the fact that the government has in place policies that are failing to keep female prisoners safe.”
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Daniella White is a state political reporter for The Age. Contact her at da.white@nine.com.auConnect via X or email.From our partners
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