The number of prison officers caught having affairs has hit a record high with 36 warders sacked over relationships in the past three years.
Thirty one female prison officers and five male warders have been sacked for misconduct since 2019, nearly double the 19 female staff dismissed over the previous four years, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures released under Freedom of Information laws.
They included one prison officer who had an inmate’s baby, another who had her lover’s cell number tattooed on her inner thigh and the governor of Onley prison in Northamptonshire who was jailed for intimate communications with an inmate.
It follows concerns raised by inspectors and unions that high staff turnover has resulted in increasing numbers of young new recruits being placed in front-line roles
Over the past five years, the number of female prison staff has risen by 27 per cent to 15,000 and now accounts for 42 per cent of all staff as part of a diversity drive.
The MoJ say the increase in prosecutions comes amid a crackdown with a new counter-corruption unit working with 20 dedicated police officers from regional organised crime units to root out corrupt warders.
They have targeted prisoners and staff enticed into affairs by them in order to get them to bring in drugs, phones and weapons, and even help run their criminal empires from behind bars.
Staff caught having sexual relationships with prisoners can be convicted of misconduct in public office. Recent cases that have led to convictions include a 29-year-old officer at Maidstone who had sex with a prisoner in his cell and had his baby. She was handed a suspended sentence in 2022.
Pregnancies and illicit communication
An officer at The Mount in Hertfordshire had a prisoner’s baby and was caught after naming him as the father on the birth certificate. Last year, the 29-year-old was jailed for 25 months.
A 20-year-old officer at Full Sutton in the East Riding of Yorkshire had a prisoner’s cell number tattooed on her inner thigh, wrote him love letters and gave him an illicit mobile phone. She was jailed for 10 months in 2021.
Victoria Laithwaite, 47, a former prison governor, exchanged intimate messages with a prisoner on his phone while she was working at Onley prison as head of safer custody and equalities. Her husband also worked at the prison. Last year, she was jailed for eight months for communicating with the prisoner through an illicit mobile.
Three prison officers, who all worked at HMP Berwyn near Wrexham, were jailed for having affairs with inmates over four years. They were caught sending explicit photographs, having sex in cells and exchanging intimate phone calls.
The figures only included staff directly employed by the Prison Service – both uniformed officers and other grades – and did not count prison nurses, who have featured in several recent cases but are employed by the NHS.
An MoJ spokesman said: “The vast majority of prison officers and other staff carry out their duties to the high standards the public rightly expect, but the small minority who fall short of those standards are held to account.”