A female prison custody officer at HMP Millsike has avoided immediate custody after admitting a secret relationship with a prisoner. During the relationship she sent him intimate and revealing photographs of herself.
The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office, Hull Crown Court heard. The offence took place between 26 August and 21 September last year, while she worked at the prison. HMP Millsike had opened only five months before, on 28 March.
How the relationship came to light
Michael Masson, prosecuting, told the court that the prison’s head of IT analysed samples of prisoners’ emails, texts and phone calls. This formed part of routine monitoring of prisoners’ outside communications.
On 15 September, he examined sample emails from one prisoner. They suggested the man had begun a relationship with a woman using an assumed name. The emails contained pictures of her in which part of her face was visible. Messages also arrived from a woman under a second name who appeared to know about processes inside the prison.
The head of IT passed his findings to a prison intelligence officer. Comparison with photographs of female staff then in post matched the pictures to the 42-year-old. The intelligence officer received authority to monitor the prisoner’s phone calls and kept a log of his calls with her.
On 20 September she arrived for an 8am shift. The intelligence officer and a member of the security staff met her at the prison. They kept her apart from other staff and took her away for questioning.
Asked about her contact with the prisoner, she at first denied any involvement outside work. She later admitted it. “Do you know what? Yes, I have been doing it. I know it’s wrong,” she said.
Her mobile phone, once seized, contained photographs. The court heard no suggestion that she had given the prisoner a phone or drugs. She had a previous conviction for an unrelated offence.
Sentence
Her barrister told the court that she had made admissions when staff confronted her and had never tried to hide what she had done. The barrister said she has children and would suit a community punishment.
Judge John Thackray KC said all offences of this kind were serious. “You were working as a prison custody officer, a trusted position. I accept that your remorse is sincere and profound,” he told her.
He imposed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended, with 100 hours of unpaid work and 15 days’ rehabilitation. She may not contact the prisoner for one year.
HMP Millsike is in the Yorkshire and the Humber region.
