A 23-year-old prison officer is facing jailtime after admitting that she had an affair with an inmate.
Megan Breen, from Newport, Gwent, initially denied the fling with the unnamed convict while working at two prisons between February and May 2022, but later changed her plea and admitted having the illicit affair behind bars.
She had been working as an officer at category C jail HMP Usk and the nearby open prison HMP Prescoed, both in Gwent, South Wales, when the offence was committed.
Breen admitted misconduct in a public office and will be sentenced next month.
The charge states: ‘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 bailed but warned she could face jail when she returns to court, with Judge Carl Harrison saying ‘all sentencing options remain open’ as he ordered a pre-sentence report.
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard a second allegation of illegally accessing a computer will not be proceeded with.
HMP Usk houses 280 inmates and is managed jointly with open prison HMP Prescoed which is three miles away and houses offenders serving the final term of their sentences before being released.
Breen’s plea comes months after a married prison officer was jailed for 15 months after being filmed having sex with an inmate in what was labelled a ‘shocking breach of the public’s trust’.
Linda De Sousa Abreu, 31, appeared in court for sentencing in January having previously admitted misconduct after an X-rated clip in a jail cell at Wandsworth Prison went viral on social media.
The footage showed a prison officer in uniform having sex with inmate Linton Weirich, 36, as her discarded radio crackled with messages from colleagues.
De Sousa Abreu, who is originally from Brazil, is a married swinger and shares an eight-year-old daughter with her husband. She was arrested at Heathrow Airport while travelling with her father but denied trying to flee the country.
Wearing a grey pin-striped blazer over a white shirt, De Sousa Abreu was sentenced to 15 months in prison at Isleworth Crown Court.
Judge Martin Edmunds, KC, the Recorder of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said De Sousa Abreu compromised her role as a prison officer, undermined discipline and put officers at increased risk.
De Sousa Abreu admitted to having sex with the same prisoner on another occasion, while she was also caught on her own body camera giving oral sex to him on the same day the original sex tape was filmed.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.