A transgender advocacy group will begin a hunger strike this morning, demanding the transfer of a trans woman from a men's prison to a women's facility.

The group No Pride in Prison's claim prisoner Jade Follett requested the change in June, a claim backed up by Follett's lawyer, but was ignored.

Rimutaka Prison said they only received the request at the weekend, and are treating the case with urgency.

Jade's Lawyer Elizabeth Hall said she spoke to her client yesterday about how this whole thing could have been avoided.

"We talk a lot about why she's in Rimutaka as opposed to Arohata prison in the first place. She's transgender, she identifies as a woman, she takes her hormones, therapy," Ms Hall said.

"We talked about whether there should be some kind of screening at the outset. Which prisoners do you put people in ... not shove them into them into Rimutaka and then if they want to transfer they can jump over some hoops."