Prison officer spared jail after admitting affair with inmate

A prison officer has been spared prison after having an ‘inappropriate relationship’ with an inmate.

Megan Breen, 23, worked at two prisons in Gwent, South Wales in 2022 when she entered into a relationship with the unnamed prisoner.

She met with the criminal, a convicted drug dealer, and had sex with him at a hotel after he was allowed out on temporary release. She travelled 175 miles to meet him and even met his family during the trip to Liverpool.

At first Breen denied the illicit affair, but last month she changed her plea

Breen worked at category C jail HMP Usk and nearby open prison HMP Prescoed as a member of operational support staff when she entered into the relationship with the inmate between February and May 2022.

Judge, Recorder of Cardiff Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said Breen ‘knew what you were doing was wrong and you were aware of the consequence’.

An earlier court hearing heard: ‘While acting as a public officer, namely a prison officer, 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 having a relationship with a prisoner.’

Breen was arrested after colleague William Morgan pulled up a picture of the male prisoner on a computer screen.

Prosecutor Thomas Stanway said: ‘She told Mr Morgan of a recent trip to Liverpool for her birthday with two other colleagues and whilst there she had slept with a man.

‘She told him the man was a prisoner at Prescoed and she used to speak to him while on night duties.

‘He asked “which prisoner”, and the defendant at this point pointed to the screen showing the photograph of the male prisoner.

‘Mr Morgan’s reaction was one of disbelief and that she must have been joking.

‘But she confirmed that had met him whilst he was on home leave and they had met up for drinks and went back to her hotel together.

‘She discussed she had met his family and that they liked her and she liked them.

‘She informed Mr Morgan that a few other prisoners knew of the relationship but they wouldn’t say anything, and the two colleagues she travelled to Liverpool also knew of the relationship.’

When Mr Morgan challenged her as to the possible consequences, Breen replied: ‘Yeah about five years but no one is going to say anything.’

But Mr Morgan told prison officers what she’d said, and during a search of the inmate’s cell they found a note with Breen’s mobile number and Snapchat handle.

The inmate was coming to the end of his sentence for supplying class A drugs and had been freed during the days to work at a nearby poultry farm.

He had been issued with a mobile phone for this, and analysis of the device showed he and Breen had contacted each other 558 times.

Mr Stanway added: ‘Messages on the phone corroborated that she had made arrangements to meet him on that trip to Liverpool.

‘They clearly demonstrated a close personal romantic relationship between the defendant and the male prisoner.

‘They said they loved each other and using other similar terms of affection and heart emojis from the defendant to the male prisoner.’

The relationship between Breen and the inmate ended after she accessed his phone and saw he had been Facetiming other women.

Judge Lloyd-Clark spared Breen a custodial prison sentence due to the ‘exceptional circumstances’ of having one young child and being pregnant with a second.

She was handed a 10-month suspended sentence as well as 15 days rehabilitation requirement and ordered to pay £500 costs.

HMP Usk houses 280 inmates, and is managed jointly with HMP Prescoed, which is located three miles away and houses offenders who are serving the final part of their sentences before being released.

Breen is the latest prison guard to face charges over inappropriate relationships with an inmate.

Earlier this year, Linda De Sousa Abreu, a prison officer at HMP Wandsworth in south London, was sentenced to 15 months in prison after she was filmed having sex with an inmate in his cell.

Toni Cole, 29, was jailed for a year after sharing a series of intimate affairs with a con while working at the new ‘super-prison’ HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire. 

And last summer, trainee officer Rachel Stanton, 31, was given a suspended jail term over an affair with armed robber Edwin Poole at the same prison.

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