Female guard jailed after sending 4,000 flirty messages to inmate at new ‘super-prison’ the place colleague had a prisoner’s child
A female prison officer who sent more than 4,000 flirty messages to an inmate has been sentenced to one year behind bars.
Toni Cole, 29, was convicted of sharing 4,369 intimate messages with a con at Northamptonshire’s new ‘super-prison’ HMP Five Wells.
Appearing before Northampton Crown Court, Cole was also found to have partaken in 18 video calls with the inmate whilst engaging in ‘contact which was sexualised or flirtatious’.
The court also heard how the 29-year-old would sit on the inmate’s lap and kiss him, and even on occasion alert him of cell searches in advance.
The offences occurred between December 9, 2022, and January 25, 2023, before Cole’s misconduct was uncovered by bosses at the Category C prison.
Pleading guilty to misconduct in public office, Cole was ordered to pay a £187 surcharge in addition to her one year prison sentence.
Cole is the second officer in as many years to be convicted of misconduct in public office at the same Wellingborough jail.
Last summer, Rachel Stanton, 31, received a suspended sentence after being involved in her own inmate fling.
Toni Cole (pictured) was sentenced to one year in prison after pleading guilty to misconduct in a public office
Toni Cole was convicted of sharing 4,369 intimate messages with a con at Northamptonshire’s new ‘super-prison’ HMP Five Wells (pictured)
The trainee officer, who is a mother-of-five, was found to have been romantically involved with armed robber Edwin Poole.
On that occasion, prison staff found a number of intimate images and a love letter in Poole’s cell, with CCTV also catching the pair entering a prison storeroom for over an hour.
Stanton was suspended following the discovery of their relationship in July 2022 and Poole was moved to another prison. She continued to visit him and the lovers now have a child together but have since separated.
In addition to Cole and Stanton, a third female prison officer, who remains nameless, was arrested and suspended for similar breaches in behaviour.
The news of Cole’s sentencing comes amid heightened scrutiny directed towards G4S, the operators of the new £253million facility.
Inspectors have recently raised concerns over staff safety, the presence of drugs within the prison and potential food shortages.
An inspection into prisoner welfare at HMS Five Wells last December found that levels of self-harm had increased and that not enough was being done to address violence or bullying.
The inspection also found that G4S had appointed its fourth director at the facility in just two years, further highlighting the challenges facing the prison.
Concerns were also raised over the inexperience of staff, with more than 70 per cent of officers having been employed for less than two years.
HMS Five Wells (pictured) has seen three staff members involved in inappropriate relationships with inmates since its opening in 2022
Prison guard Rachel Stanton (pictured) admitted to wilful misconduct in public office after she entered a relationship with armed robber Edwin Poole
Last month, the Mail on Sunday exclusively revealed that numbers of prison officers having sex with inmates were sharply rising.
In figures obtained from the Ministry of Justice, 19 prison staff were found to have been charged with misconduct in public office between 2023-24, in what were the highest numbers in over a decade.
The figures also show that a total of 121 prison officers have been charged with conducting inappropriate relationships with inmates over the past decade.
The Mail on Sunday also exclusively revealed that almost 5,000 officers had been charged with a slew of other offences over the previous decade, ranging from aiding the escape of prisoners to smuggling drugs into cells.
Ministry of Justice figures also revealed that 2023-24 saw the highest number of officers charged than any other year over the previous decade, with 680 cases recorded.
Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: ‘The vast majority of our prison officers are honest and hard-working. We will always take robust action against those who are not.’
