UK: what it’s like to be a transgender woman in a men’s prison

During the past 18 months, three openly transgender women have taken their own lives in custody in England: Vikki Thompson, Joanne Latham and Jenny Swift. Their deaths speak of the difficulties that transgender people face behind bars. The ongoing inquest into Thompson’s death sheds some light onto those experiences.

In her new book, Transgender Behind Prison Walls, Sarah Baker has added her voice to this conversation. As a transgender woman serving time in a men’s prison, Baker is all too aware of the lack of help, advice or information for transgender inmates or the staff responsible for their safety and well-being. Drawing upon her more than 25 years in custody, Baker seeks to help fill this gap. She has also spoken to me as part of my ongoing research into LGBT prisoners.

Baker’s personal story of life behind bars is shared in the book’s postscript.

She describes in detail the discrimination, verbal, physical and sexual abuse that she has experienced since coming out as trans while in prison. Some of it makes for harrowing reading. Complaints she has made about her treatment have fallen on deaf ears.

She alleges that she was blamed by an official for provoking attacks via her “lifestyle choice”, and finds herself unable to prove discrimination “without a paper trail”. The Ministry of Justice was contacted about these allegations by The Conversation but said it did not comment on specific cases.

In 2013, various newspapers wrongly reported that Baker had received gender confirmation surgery paid for by the NHS – sensationalist and transphobic coverage that Baker challenges in her book. Instead, she says that a gender identity clinic denied her both a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and any treatment while she is in prison. Baker writes that she was told that she must first live in her affirmed gender for two years outside of prison and, since she is serving a life sentence, this could be a number of years and depends on when she gets parole.

Ministry of Justice guidance on the care of transgender prisoners states that: “The prison GP must refer all applications for gender reassignment surgery to a consultant specialising in gender dysphoria and will ordinarily accept advice from the consultant about whether gender reassignment surgery is considered appropriate in a particular case.”

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