A prison that saw 18 female staff members get fired or resign over a number of sex scandals and affairs with inmates is now facing a staffing crisis triggered by the illicit hook-ups.
The women’s departures are said to have contributed to the shortage at HMP Berwyn – Britain’s largest male jail set on a sprawling industrial estate in Wrexham, north Wales.
The ‘biggest destabilising factor’ at the jail
In a new Independent Monitoring Boards report, staffing issues are highlighted as the ‘biggest destabilising factor’ at the jail, which is home to more than 2,100 medium-risk category ‘B’ and ‘C’ prisoners.
While the 18 cases have taken place since 2017, three female guards, Jennifer Gavan, 27, Ayshea Gunn, 27 and Emily Watson, 26, were all jailed in the last year for relationships with the inmates.
Misconduct in public office
Watson arranged three trysts with her jailbird lover in his cell, having full intercourse with him during one meet up and performing a sex act on him on two other occasions – including on Christmas Day.
Gunn, made more than 1,200 phone calls – including explicit video calls – and smuggled a pair of underwear to her lover Khuram Razaq’s cell in her bra lining.
Both officers were jailed for 12 months in 2019 for misconduct in public office.
In April 2020, Gavan, began a relationship with offender Alex Coxon.
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She gave him a phone where she had made sexually explicit videos.
In December of last year, she was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to misconduct.
The most recent report, according to The Sun, looked at the period between March 2022 and February this year.
It said the jail had been gradually ‘opening up’ since Covid adding that ‘progress has been adversely affected by shortages of operational staff and probation officers’.
It also said that many staff were inexperienced and that the Prison Service was actively recruiting more members.
