• 6 years ago
• Posted in:Domestic violence, Kidnap/Abduction, Murder/ Manslaughter, Torture, Violent Offences
• 0
• Author: melodie
• Tags: 10+ years imprisonment, 15+ years imprisonment, 20+ years imprisonment, Aged 20-29, Aged<20, Alan Baker, Convicted 1990s, Convicted 1998, Domestic violence, England, Family member victim, HMP Elmley, HMP Full Sutton, HMP Lewes, HMP Leyhill, HMP North Sea Camp, Indeterminate sentence, IPP, Life sentence, Looked after child, Male prison, Male victim, Multiple victims, Munroe Bergdorf, No transfer, Offended while in custody, pre-GRS, Pre-transition, Pride, Prison transition, Prisoner victim, Refused transfer to women's prison, Self-castration, Self-harm, Surrey, Sussex, Trans activist, Trans woman

Alan /Sarah Jane Baker, a violent male who identifies as a trans woman, was jailed for life in 1998 on an indeterminate sentence (with a nine year tariff) after trying to kill another prisoner, an alleged child rapist. At the time Baker was serving a jail sentence for the kidnap and torture of a family member (stepmother’s brother). Baker reportedly also has previous convictions for armed robbery and drug dealing.

It was reported in August 2013 that Baker was undergoing surgery to become a trans woman while at HMP Elmley, a local Category B/C men’s prison, before transfer to a women’s prison. Baker was reportedly due a parole hearing in October 2013, aged 43, having been in prison since the age of 19.

In 2014 Baker made an allegation of assault and torture by two prison officers on the way back from an appointment at Charing Cross Hospital’s gender clinic. The prison has denied the claims.

In 2017 Baker published a book entitled Transgender Behind Prison Walls and maintains a Twitter account where ‘all Tweets and replies are sent for & on behalf of Sarah’ and location is given as HMP Lewes (a local men’s prison in Sussex) indicating Baker has not fulfilled criteria to be transferred to a women’s prison..

Not to be confused with Alan Baker #2, another violent male who identifies as a trans woman, who was convicted of murder in 2013.

*Update December 2019*

Baker was released from prison in 2019 after having served 30 years in male prisons. Discussing an intent to set up a group to represent transgender prisoners during a newspaper interview, Baker is quoted as saying, “The problem is we’re not all in for shoplifting. Some of them are some of the worst child sex offenders in the world. They’ve committed some horrendous crimes.”

Baker also stated that in December 2017, having been refused female hormones, “I cut my testicles off when I was in my prison cell. There was so much blood, I nearly died. But it meant the clinic had to give me oestrogen.” See here for other violent trans offenders who have removed their own testicles in prison.

*Update June 2021*

Baker was fêted as a speaker at the Trans Pride March in London on 26 June and photographed with Munroe Bergdorf – the trans activist who was dropped by the NSPCC for making statements that breached its safeguarding rules and who (despite being male) loves to tell women they’re doing feminism wrong. Baker was also photographed with a placard saying ‘Be Trans Do Crime’ in red paint (see image above), part of a series carried at the march which included the slogans ‘Sex Work Is Work’, ‘Dykes 4 Trans Rights’ and ‘Kill JK Rowling’. See more on the rise of violent misogyny at Pride here

Black and white image:  Daily Mail

Images at London Trans Pride 2021: The Glinner Update  archive

Media reports:

i newspaper https://inews.co.uk/news/uk-longest-serving-transgender-prisoner-sarah-jane-baker-1343144 archive

Daily Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/violent-convict-sex-change-operation-2119490 archive 

Croydon Advertiser http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/murderer-sex-change-serving-life-sentence/story-19604871-detail/story.html#gCJ7ZXLIyFZuteQz.99#

Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2383992/Violent-inmate-Alan-Baker-given-10-000-sex-change-NHS.html archive 

Croydon Advertiser http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/penpal-serving-life-jail-wants-woman/story-19604873-detail/story.html

Croydon Advertiser (archived) https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-36055872.html