Former prison officers have broken their silence to describe an 'epidemic' of sexual relationships between staff and inmates, a crisis they claim the system finds 'too awkward to address'. Their warnings follow the recent jailing of two female prison workers for explicit encounters with prisoners.
Recent Convictions Highlight Systemic Issue
Rebecca Pinckard, 46, a prison officer at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk, was caught performing a sex act on inmate Erion Nakdi in a store cupboard in July. The incident was recorded on her own body-worn camera. In a separate case, Melissa Murphy, 49, a tutor at HMP Chelmsford in Essex, was sending erotic letters to prisoner Gavon Smith while engaged to another man. Both women were sentenced to eight months in prison earlier this week.
These cases are not isolated, according to former guards now speaking out. Sam Samworth, who worked at HMP Manchester for 11 years, stated he was aware of numerous 'inappropriate relationships' during his career. "I caught one guard in a – let's just say – compromising position, and she was walked out of the job," he revealed. "I saw another who had only been married for seven months being intimate with an inmate."
A Culture of Embarrassment and Neglect
Mr Samworth bluntly labelled the problem an epidemic, adding, "It’s an epidemic no one wants to address because it’s too awkward." Another former officer, Alex South, who worked in men's prisons in London between 2012 and 2021, echoed this sentiment. "It is so embarrassing for the prison system," she told Metro. "When I first started my career this never would have happened."
They argue that basic safeguards are failing. Ms South pointed out that the 'very basic systems' designed to prevent such relationships, like officers always knowing each other's locations, are no longer effective. "Clearly officers are not looking out for each other anymore," she said. She also suggested that some female officers, already in vulnerable positions, "get wooed by the excitement [and] the glamour of it all."
This pattern is not new. The case of Linda De Sousa Abreu, who went viral after being filmed having sex with an inmate at HMP Wandsworth, remains a stark example of the abuse of public trust.
Broken System: Austerity Cuts and Catastrophic Decline
The former officers directly link the rise in misconduct to years of austerity and catastrophic budget cuts. They describe a service stripped of experienced staff and proper regimes. "When I first started there was a regular regime and prisoners were out most of the day, and staff were very well trained," recalled Mr Samworth. "But from 2015, it was an absolute car crash."
He claims experienced officers retired in droves, replaced by younger, less-trained recruits. Prison conditions deteriorated sharply, with inmates locked in cells for up to '23 hours a day'. This lockdown culture, they argue, fuels frustration and violence during brief association periods and creates a toxic environment where corruption can flourish.
Ms South witnessed the drastic decline firsthand. "I witnessed prisoner-on-prisoner murders, rats infesting the building and even drones flying up to windows," she said. "You’ll always have corruption in prisons, but catastrophic cuts have allowed it to flourish. The things I saw towards the end of my career would never have happened at the start."
Mr Samworth concluded with a grim assessment of the current state: "Prisoners are now running the jails, there is no discipline... It is just part of a pipeline which is leading to bigger problems."
