Female jail officer at two jails denies ‘inappropriate relationship’ with lag

A jail officer who was accused of getting an affair with a lag has denied the claims.

Megan Breen, allegedly struck up an “inappropriate relationship with the unnamed prison inmate between February and May 2022. At the time Breen, from Newport, South Wales, was working at two UK jails – HMP Usk and HMP Prescoed, both in Gwent.

Appearing at Cardiff Crown Court today (Wednesday, January 10), she pleaded not guilty to misconduct in a public office. She also denied another charge of illegally accessing a computer.

The first charge read: “While appearing as a public officer, particularly a jail officer, wilfully and with out affordable excuse or justification misconducted your self in a manner which amounted to an abuse of the general public’s belief within the workplace holder by having a relationship with a prisoner.”

Meanwhile the second cost associated to “securing unauthorised access to a programme or data held within the computer”.

Breen was launched on bail. A provisional trial date has been set for November 2024.

HMP Usk is a class C jail, residence to about 280 inmates. It is managed collectively with open jail HMP Prescoed which holds round 230 lags.

The trial comes after a swathe of different jail officers confronted related allegations. Last yr some 18 feminine guards had been fired and three had been jailed from HMP Berwyn for romping with lags.

Meanwhile Katie Loxton, 27, was jailed final summer time after she launched into a relationship with 32-year-old Adam Higgs whereas working at HMP Oakwood in Staffordshire.

Similarly custody officer Ruth Shmylo and nurse Elyse Hibbs had been each accused of getting flings with the identical prisoner at HMP Parc in 2020 and 2021. Last month the Daily Star reported Shmylo has now been cleared of 1 cost of misconduct in a public workplace.

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