Prison officers having sex with inmates ‘is an epidemic too awkward to deal with’

'It's an epidemic no one wants to address because it's too awkward.'

Officers having sex with inmates is an ‘epidemic’ which is ‘too awkward to address’, former prison officers have claimed.

Sam Samworth, a former guard at HMP Manchester, said he was aware of a number of ‘inappropriate relationships’ throughout his 11 year career.

It comes as Linda De Sousa Abreu, 30, plead guilty to misconduct after footage leaked of her and Linton Weirich having sex inside a cell at HMP Wandsworth.

But former guards are now coming forward claiming that relationship is just one of many currently inside prisons.

Mr Samworth said: ‘I caught one guard in a – lets just say – compromising position, and she was walked out of the job.

‘I saw another who had only been married for seven months being intimate with an inmate.

‘It’s an epidemic no one wants to address because it’s too awkward.’

Another guard, Alex South, said she was aware of relationships between officers and inmates while working across men’s prisons in London between 2012 and 2-21.

But the fact De Sousa was filmed on a mobile phone ‘just makes a mockery of the system’.

Ms South told Metro: ‘It is so embarrassing for the prison system. When I first started my career this never would have happened.’

The charge states De Sousa Abreu ‘wilfully and without reasonable excuse or justification misconducted yourself in a way which amounted to an abuse of the public’s trust in the office holder by engaging in a sexual act with a prisoner in a prison cell’.

And this is far from the only case of inappropriate relationships coming to light over the past year.

Last week Kelsey Calvert sobbed as she pleaded guilty to having an inappropriate relationship with an inmate at HMP Holme House.

Another former prison officer Rachel Stanton was spared jail for having an affair with inamte at HMP Five Wells, even having his baby.

She was spared jail last week despite CCTV catching the pair going into a prison storeroom for an hour of ‘intimacy’, a court heard.

Two weeks ago female prison officer Dawn MacCormack shared a ‘prolific’ number of texts and phone calls with an inmate at The Mount, a court heard.

This is despite ‘very basic systems’ being in place to help stop relationships forming in the first place.

Ms South said: ‘Guards should always know where one another is at all times, so clearly officers are not looking out for each other anymore.

‘Sometimes female officers ae already vulnerable, and they get wooed by the excitement the glamour of it all.’

But the budget cuts prisons have faced under austerity measures also contributed to the lack of good behaviour and well trained staff, the former officers have claimed.

Mr Samworth said: ‘When I first started there was a regular regime and prisoners were out most of the day, but from 2015, it was an absolute car crash.’

The cuts meant experienced staff were retiring and droves, and younger officers were being recruited in their place.

Other conditions within the prisons also took a downturn, with inmates being kept in their cell ’23 hours a day’ – leading to an increase in violence when they were allowed out for association time.

Ms South said: ‘I witnessed prisoner-on-prisoner murders, rats infesting the building and even drones flying up to windows.

‘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 added: ‘When I first started there was a regular regime and prisoners were out most of the day and staff were very well trained.

‘But prisoners are now running the jails, there is no discipline, and they are pending way too much time locked up in their cell.

‘It is just part of a pipeline which is leading to bigger problems.’

Metro has contacted the Ministry of Justice for comment.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.