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An incarcerated transgender woman in Ontario – deemed a dangerous offender for sex offences against several women – reportedly wants to be moved to a women’s institution after receiving gender surgery.

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Amanda Joy Cooper, a 58-year-old inmate at the all-male Millhaven Institution in Eastern Ontario, was denied a transfer by the Correctional Service of Canada multiple times, reports CBC News.

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Corrections officials cite Cooper’s risk to reoffend if transferred to an all-women’s jail and history of “obsessive attachments” to female prison staff.

Sentenced as dangerous offender

According to the report, Cooper was born in Montreal in 1967. As a man, Cooper committed numerous sex offences and was sentenced as a dangerous offender.

Prison authorities concluded that Cooper, listed as a dangerous offender since 2001, would pose a “very high risk to the safety” of the other inmates.

The inmate, who has fully completed gender-reassignment surgery, is apparently taking the transfer request to Federal Court where a judge will hear the case next week.

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According to the inmate’s Nova Scotia lawyer, Cooper is now considered a female following gender surgery and would need to be moved due to correctional policy, which allows those who are incarcerated to apply for a transfer based on gender identity or expression.

Cooper’s lawyer also said the transgender inmate fears for her safety at the Bath, Ont., institution.

“On average, I am out of my cell only a couple hours per day at most,” Cooper said in the affidavit. “On weekends, sometimes I am out of the cell only 20-30 minutes per day. As a result, I have very little meaningful social interaction.”

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Cooper also stated in the court filing that male inmates have threatened her and called her disparaging names, and in one incident her butt was grabbed.

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Transfer requests from inmates

According to Corrections Canada, it received 129 requests from inmates assigned male at birth petitioning to be moved to a women’s institution since March 2025.

Of those requests, 37 were approved, 72 were denied and 22 were withdrawn.

Corrections officials also said 90 inmates have identified themselves as transgender women as of October 2025, with 17 held in women’s prisons and the other 73 in men’s jails. Of those, a dozen have had gender surgery.

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