There are series of allegations against prison staffs in the United Kingdom (UK) for having romantic and sexual relationships with prisoners. According to a latest report, eighteen female staff at a jail which has pioneered a liberal approach have had relationships with prisoners since it opened, data obtained under Freedom of Information laws has revealed.
The 18 women including full-time officers and contract staff at HMP Berwyn in north Wales have been sacked or resigned after their affairs were exposed during its first six years of operation. Three have been jailed for misconduct in a public office.
The prison which opened in 2017 as Britain’s second biggest with space for 2,000 offenders pioneered a liberal approach to create a more “domestic” environment to aid rehabilitation with cells rebranded as rooms, prison blocks known as “communities” and inmates provided with laptops when they arrive.
However, the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) told The Telegraph that inexperienced officers had been exploited by “very experienced” offenders amid flaws in recruitment which meant that governors were not able to have face-to-face interviews to select their own staff. Instead, they were recruited centrally through assessment tests and Zoom interviews.
It comes as figures show a record 36 female prison officers have been sacked over relationships in the past three years, nearly double the 19 in the previous four years.
The Ministry of Justice has attributed the surge to a crackdown by a revamped counter-corruption unit which is now working with 20 dedicated police officers from regional organized crime units to root out corrupt prison officers.
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.
As the news about such romantic or sexual relations between the prison staffs and prisoners appeared in the media, hundreds of people are commenting on this issue. Here are several selected comments:
Craig: If you know anyone who’s been in prison, you know the people running it are as corrupt as the criminals in it. So many corrupt prison guards selling illegal cell phones, or protection from a predator. They need civilian review boards in prisons to watch what’s going on because it will never get cleaned up if you don’t. And the contractor prisons needs to be outlawed.
Amy: There’s still a perception in a lot of society that all men are manipulative predators looking for victims and all women are poor naïve things in need of protection.
There are, of course, men and women who fall into those categories, but most of us are mature adults responsible for our own decisions.
Donald: Having worked as an officer for many years, we escorted many women out of the facility for the same thing. Women shouldn’t be working in a male prison they get coerced into many bad situations. From sex acts to bringing things in that can be a danger to other officers. Not sexist just stating facts. As a trainer I heard many times from women I will never be that woman and a few months later there we are walking her off site. I don’t think male officers should work at a female prison either. even on hospital duty I had to walk a woman off site for doing things with an inmate.
Debby: I’m sorry, but what did they expect? When you put attractive 20-somethings of the opposite sex in close proximity to one another, this is bound to happen, even between inmates and guards. The women probably thought the men actually loved them and they risked it all, sadly.
Steven: Male officers at male prisons/jails. Female officers at female prisons/jails – that is not hard to do. When will we learn this?
Christopher: I have relatives that worked years in jails and prisons as corrections officers to pharmacist. They all said it never failed that over the years there would be a young lady hired and she would only last a few months because she would dress inappropriately at these facilities or get a little too friendly with the inmates.
Kang: Gives a whole new meaning to rehabilitation. Officer’s in the prison hold authority over the inmates, not the other way around. So legally the staff is wholly responsible for these incidents and for taking advantage of the inmates. I know I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, but this is another troubling incident where women are not held to the same behavioral expectations as men. If a man did these things, he would never be referred to as a victim.
Howard: You put decent to nice looking women in a prison with master manipulators and this is going to happen. I know most people think they know what the typical inmate looks like, but there are some who aren’t scraggly ragbags, and they can work the women officers. Look at Joyce Mitchell and the case in the New York State prison where the inmates were using her for sex. All they have to do is get the officer to compromise him/herself just one time and they own you. JUST ONCE. In the prison I worked, they would try and get you to bring them in a can of Coke to hook you up? Why a can of Coke? Because the prison actually only sold Pepsi products, so the inmate could prove they obtained it from the outside. The games the convicts try to play are calculated, and since all they have is time, all they try and do is get an officer to slip ONE TIME, and they got you, and they build on it from there. Female inmates do the same type thing, but the male inmates are less conspicuous, especially working with young female officers.
