Nearly 100 prison staff sanctioned for ‘inappropriate’ relationships
‘Overcrowded jails and inexperienced guards’ behind increase in relationships between staff and inmates, experts warn
Nearly 100 prison employees in England and Wales have faced disciplinary action, including 63 who were fired, for inappropriate relationships with inmates since 2017.
Inappropriate relationships include those that are sexual or otherwise “blur” the lines between staff and prisoners, as well as those that violate boundaries – for example, by giving one inmate favourable treatment.
An investigation by openDemocracy reveals that such relationships are increasing in English and Welsh prisons, with 92 prison staffers being sacked or sanctioned – such as with written warnings – between 2017 and 2023. The annual number of staff disciplinaries rose from 11 in 2017/18 to 17 in 2022/23, according to data we obtained through Freedom of Information requests.
Our findings, experts have warned, are the result of the crisis in Britain’s overcrowded and understaffed prisons – and the victims are twofold. Inexperienced and poorly vetted prison guards may fall prey to harassment and coercive controlling behaviour from inmates, while prisoners are at risk of inexperienced staff abusing their newfound power.
“We’ve got overcrowded jails, with very few experienced staff, where training is done on the job – new staff teaching new staff,” said Vanessa Frake, a former prison governor who worked in both men’s and women’s prisons in England for nearly 30 years.
“We have poor vetting, with people being vetted online rather than face-to-face, and staff only having a few weeks of training and are therefore not developing the skills to identify corruption and manipulation. These are often young people being thrown in at the deep end.”
New prime minister Keir Starmer last night described the state of prisons as “shocking”, saying the crisis is “even worse than I thought it was”. Ministers are expected to announce a new early release scheme this week in an effort to reduce the prison population.
Sian Norris
More than half of prison officers have spent fewer than five years in the job – a decade ago that figure was just 11.3%. The impact of austerity measures means there are also fewer staff members in English and Welsh prisons today than in 2010, despite the prison population rising by 4,000 to 84,000 since then.
Frake told openDemocracy that a lack of proper training and ongoing mentoring of staff means “vulnerable staff do not have someone to turn to if a prisoner is behaving inappropriately towards them, and they are not trained to deal with coercion and manipulation from prisoners”.
Former prison guard Ruth Shmylo was acquitted of misconduct in public office last year, after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner. Shmylo told the court that inmate Harri Pullen had sexually harassed her but that she did not report his behaviour as she feared doing so would “come with repercussions” due to his organised crime links.
Shmylo began working at HMP Parc in Bridgend, Wales, in August 2020. She was accused of beginning a relationship with Pullen in December of the same year, when she was still on her probation period.
“This is about staff training, staff recruitment, and the management of staff when they are in prisons,” said David Wilson, emeritus professor of criminology at the University of Birmingham. “It means you have colleagues who are inexperienced, and whose inexperience will lead them into situations where they make poor decisions.
“It allows prisoners to manipulate officers to do things that they would not be able to manipulate a more experienced officer to do.”
Abuse of power
Women working in men’s prisons received 72% of the total sanctions handed out for inappropriate relationships with prisoners in the past five years, with 51 women fired, openDemocracy’s investigation has found. Nine male employees working in men’s prisons were also dismissed over such relationships.
But the far lower population of women prisoners – 3,600, compared to 83,600 in the men’s estate – means they are disproportionately at risk. Six male employees were sanctioned, including three who were dismissed, over an inappropriate relationship with a female inmate.
Iain Cocks, who worked at the women’s prison HMP New Hall, Yorkshire, was jailed for four years in 2018 after he was convicted of two counts of misconduct in public office and one count of sexual assault. Cocks engaged in an inappropriate relationship with one inmate, and sexually assaulted a second woman prisoner.
During his trial, the court heard how the assault only stopped after the victim – who is anonymous for legal reasons – said: “Don’t you think I am vulnerable?”
“Either way you look at it, whether it’s inappropriate relationships between women prisoners and male officers, or male prisoners and female officers, it’s an abuse of power,” said Frake. “That said, men who are predatory outside of prison don’t stop being predatory just because they have a prison sentence.”
Frake, who retired in 2013 and wrote The Governor about her experiences working in prisons, warned that “prison reflects society and the way we treat women in society. What goes on outside of jail goes on in jail. Unfortunately, women in uniform are looked on, by some men, as vulnerable outside and inside of prison.”
A female prison officer was last month charged with misconduct in public office after a video emerged allegedly showing her having sex with an inmate in HMP Wandsworth, London. She will appear at Isleworth Crown Court on 29 July.
Frake told openDemocracy she is concerned that the video’s release “will put women staff in a more vulnerable position”.
“I can imagine the comments that will have been made to many, many women staff by male prisoners since the film was released,” Frake said. “There are thousands of female staff who do an amazing job in very difficult circumstances on a daily basis. We need to make sure that the odd bad apple does not detract from their service, humanity and dedication."
Last month, another prison officer, Kate Southern, was sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office. A second worker at Altcourse, Sarah Williams, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for three counts of misconduct in public office in 2023.
Dr Lucy Baldwin, a research fellow specialising in women in the criminal justice system at Durham University, told openDemocracy that staff shortages are having “an impact on how efficiently and safely prisons can run”.
“A lack of staff can mean some activities are restricted, which can mean more time in cells, which drives more boredom and drug use, which can then lead to more anti-social behaviour of every kind in prison,” Baldwin added.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “The overwhelming majority of our prison staff are hardworking and honest but thanks to the work of our Counter-Corruption Unit, we are catching more of the small minority who are not.”
Comments ()