By Grâçia Ada Obi
A female prison officer has been jailed after she was caught entering a cupboard with an inmate and swapping love letters with him behind bars.
Morgan Farr Varney, 24, was caught engaging in an illicit relationship with a prisoner at HMP Lindholme near Doncaster, United Kingdom (UK).
She was sentenced to ten months in prison after she admitted to police that she had “proper fell in love” with the convict, before admitting she had “f****ed her life up”.
CCTV footage recovered as part of an investigation by a Prison Anti-Corruption Unit showed the pair entering a cupboard together and loitering on a wing.
A search of the inmate’s cell also led to the recovery of love letters, with officers finding similar letters during a search of Farr Varney’s bedroom.
After joining as a prison officer in April 2022, Farr Varney entered a training program involving anti-corruption and conditioning from inmates.
But she was arrested in January 2023 after suspicions were raised about her relationship with the inmate.
Following her arrest and release on bail, Farr Varney resigned from her role at HMP Lindholme, while her boyfriend was transferred to Wealstun Prison near Wetherby in West Yorkshire.
However, their relationship continued, with officers recovering more photographs of Farr Varney from the inmate’s new cell.
The former prison officer, of West Avenue, Stainforth, pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office at Sheffield Crown Court on 16 April 2024. She was sentenced on 9 May.
The case comes as a record number of female prison guards have been fired for affairs with male inmates – with 29 given the sack in the past three years, according to the Prisoner Anti-Corruption Unit.
That compares to just nine women who lost their jobs for the same offence between 2017 and 2019.
In January this year, former Wandsworth prison officer Linda De Sousa Abreu was jailed for 15 months after a film of her having sex with an inmate was shared online and went viral.
Detective Constable Scott Jarvis, part of our Prison Anti-Corruption Unit and officer in charge of the case, said these reports are taken “incredibly seriously” to “ensure those who are guilty of these offences are brought to justice”.
He continued: “These types of relationships are thankfully rare, but when they do happen, they threaten to undermine the reputation of the prison service and other hard-working prison officers who abide by the rules and regulations attached to the job.
“I hope this sentencing sends out a clear message to any prison officers thinking of committing similar offences that if you engage in this type of criminality, you will be investigated by police and you will be brought to justice.”
