Inside forbidden prison relationships and why officers fall for killers like Jordan McSweeney

Forbidden relationships betwixt prison officers and inmates aren't uncommon - and determination is overmuch much to jailhouse flings than carnal attraction, a criminologist tells the Mirror.

Former situation teacher Hayley Jones, 33, pleaded blameworthy past period to having an "inappropriate relationship" with convicted slayer Jordan McSweeney astatine HMP Belmarsh. But contempt the store teacher admitting to misconduct, the Crown Prosecution Service has contiguous decided to driblet the complaint of encouraging oregon assisting the committee of an indictable offence against McSweeney.

A CPS spokesperson said determination was "insufficient evidence" to prove that McSweeney was guilty of further criminality, but helium "remains down bars". The twisted slayer is presently serving a minimum word of 33 years for the heinous execution and intersexual battle of Zara Aleena, a 35-year-old instrumentality graduate, successful June 2022.

Jones and McSweeney aren't the lone ones to person formed an illicit relationship, with a drawstring of officers illegally hooking up with criminals down bars, arsenic evidenced successful the courts implicit the years. Criminologist and scientist Alex Iszatt told the Mirror that these inappropriate relationships "do hap regularly successful prisons, but they are not ever driven by intersexual attraction".

Judge David Miller said of the killer's case: "Some of the grounds was that helium was getting peculiar favours oregon treatment. He whitethorn person been bragging to different captive astir the powerfulness that helium had implicit this person."

Alex said a fig of factors play a relation successful a jailhouse fling forming, including "emotional attachment, vulnerability, dependency, powerfulness dynamics, trauma bonding, and grooming". She said: "In the lawsuit of Jones and McSweeney, she wasn't a emblematic serviceman - she was a situation teacher, which adds different furniture to the powerfulness dynamics."

Earlier this year, erstwhile HMP Wandsworth serviceman Linda De Sousa Abreu, 30, pleaded blameworthy to misconduct successful a nationalist office aft a video was wide shared connected societal media showing the situation serviceman having enactment with an inmate successful a cell. It came aft 3 pistillate guards were jailed for having illicit affairs with inmates astatine HMP Berwyn successful Wrexham.

Ayshea Gunn, 27, exchanged much than 1,200 telephone calls, including explicit video calls, with captive Khuram Razaq and adjacent smuggled a brace of knickers into his cell. Her chap serviceman Emily Watson, 26, performed a enactment enactment connected an inmate successful his cell.

In 2020, Jennifer Gavan, 27, sent intimate photos of herself to captive Alex Coxon and kissed him during the relationship. And successful 2022, Corinne Redhead, 29, was jailed for astir 2 years aft having an inmate's babe pursuing a concealed year-long fling with convicted robber Robert O'Connor astatine The Mount jailhouse successful Hertfordshire.

But however did each of these relationships start? Alex explained: "When women enactment successful male-dominated prisons, they tin go rare, sexualised objects of attention. This dynamic has been portrayed successful porn and occasionally, the boundaries betwixt phantasy and world tin blur."

The scientist continued: "Prisons tin beryllium isolating environments for some officers and inmates, starring them to crook to each different for affectional support, processing inappropriate attachments. If officers aren't trained to acceptable boundaries, and supervisors neglect to negociate effectively, situations tin rapidly get retired of manus - particularly if the idiosyncratic lacks affectional enactment extracurricular of work."

Alex said pistillate officers whitethorn beryllium much susceptible to inappropriate relationships if they are "emotionally susceptible oregon lonely". She explained: "Inmates whitethorn exploit these vulnerabilities, peculiarly if they consciousness that the serviceman is seeking affectional validation oregon attention."

Once this unprofessional narration takes off, different level of caput games comes into play, Alex says, with "fear of retaliation, nonaccomplishment of earnings, and nonaccomplishment of respect" perchance forcing the narration to past longer than planned. "Ultimately, inappropriate relationships betwixt pistillate correctional officers and inmates are not chiefly driven by carnal attractiveness.

"Rather, they stem from affectional vulnerability, manipulation, powerfulness dynamics, and the stresses of the situation environment, each of which tin lend to boundary-crossing," Alex concluded. Former captive David Shipley witnessed officers "cross the line" with inmates during his twelvemonth down bars.

In 2020, helium was jailed for fraud and pursuing his merchandise successful August 2021, helium began speaking retired astir situation betterment work. "These relationships aren't that communal - and are usually conducted successful concealed - but they are communal capable that immoderate antheral who's spent clip arsenic a captive volition cognize of officers who crossed the enactment successful their relationships with prisoners," helium told the Mirror.

"It's not conscionable intersexual relationships, though those people get the astir attention." David explained that prisoners and officers whitethorn transverse boundaries arsenic friends oregon allies. He said, " Well-meaning officers tin beryllium manipulated into believing they are unsocial successful 'helping' a prisoner, and favours extremity up being exchanged."

He continued: "It's adjuvant to recognize that situation wings are a weird, aggravated situation successful which prisoners and officers tin go traumatised. After 14 years of cuts to the situation system, galore wings are staffed wholly by inexperienced officers. Good and bad-intentioned officers tin some participate into inappropriate relationships. These atrocious apples should beryllium filtered retired by a robust vetting procedure, but this does not look to beryllium astatine present."

Hayley Jones, of Strood successful Kent, volition beryllium sentenced connected February 4 aft she has been psychologically assessed.