A judge has dismissed an appeal to stop a transgender woman from being sent to an all-male prison.
Tara Hudson, 26, from Bath, was ordered by magistrates to serve a 12-week sentence at HMP Bristol for assaulting a bar manager - despite having lived as a woman her whole adult life.
The make-up artist, who was previously known as Raymond Aaron David has undergone six years of reconstructive surgery, but she is still legally considered a man.
The court had heard an intoxicated Ms Hudson had headbutted Christopher Dyer after she was refused any more alcohol.
Judge Sellick said the attack had breached a conditional discharge she had been given three weeks previously.
He added that Ms Hudson had a "worrying criminal record" which contained "numerous offences".
Dismissing her appeal, he said "it is for the prison service to and not the court to establish where a sentence should be served."
But he added: "We would invite further and sensitive consideration of these issues (in Hudson's case)."
Ms Hudson's barrister Nicholas Wragg said his client - who suffers from a mental illness - has been separated from the rest of the prison population and "locked in a cell 23 hours a day".
He added that she "has had an awful time - she has found it unrelenting and frightening".
Outside Bristol Crown Court, around 30 demonstrators waved placards with slogans such as "trans lives matter" and the hashtag #iseetara.
Ms Hudson's mother Jackie Brooklyn, 48, has previously written to the governor of HMP Bristol amid fears her daughter will be targeted by male prisoners during her time there.
Speaking outside court, she said she was bitterly disappointed by the decision and called on the Prison Service to transfer her daughter to a female jail immediately.
"Her life in Bristol prison has been utter hell and she is constantly being harassed.
More than 140,000 people have signed aChange.org petition urging authorities to reverse the decision on the basis that it is a "breach of her Human Rights, and places her in extreme danger of abuse, sexual violence, and even death".
Campaigners say transgender people are statistically more likely to face abuse in prison and are at higher risk of mental health issues.
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