Prison officer avoids jail after ‘fairytale relationship' with inmate
Tracy Boateng, 27, from Dagenham, admitted misconduct in a public office after engaging in an inappropriate relationship with Vincent Ojo, 34, at HMP Pentonville between Feb 25 and April 19 last year.
On Monday, she was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months.
The court heard that body-worn camera footage captured the pair hugging and kissing, while messages on Boateng's phone revealed she had discussed the relationship with a colleague, who replied: 'This guy really believes you are his fairytale ending.'
The couple were filmed taking a selfie together during which Boateng made a V sign and asked Ojo to 'say cheese', prosecutor Laura Kenyon said.
Ojo, 34, is serving a sentence for possession of heroin with intent to supply and has been held on the same wing since 2020.
Ojo reportedly accompanied Boateng to an office 'multiple times' where she had appeared to 'reveal details' of organisational information and permitted him to look at her computer screen, the prosecutor added. Her behaviour, which became known to other inmates, risked undermining prison discipline, the court was told.
Boateng originally joined the Prison Service in 2020 through a graduate scheme immediately after she left university, and passed an exam on 'anti-corruption', the prosecutor said. She was therefore aware she could 'avoid corruption by being friendly but not friends' with inmates, Ms Kenyon added.
During mitigation, Ioana Nedelcu, defending, said Boateng's daughter, of whom Ojo is not the father, was three months old and still breastfeeding. Boateng was 'remorseful' and now a single mother after her relationship with her daughter's father broke down after he found out about her interactions with Ojo, the barrister added.
'She understands her actions were wrong and that she makes no excuses for it,' Ms Nedelcu added.
'Exceptional feature'
Sentencing, Judge Caroline English said Boateng had avoided prison because of the impact it could have on her three-month-old baby. Addressing the defendant, Judge English said: 'This offence is so serious that nothing other than a custodial sentence can be justified.
'There is however, an exceptional feature in this case, that is your child.
'One thing is for certain, your child is a total innocent and the impact on such a young baby would be significant.'
She added that 'for that reason and that reason alone', she was 'persuaded to suspend the sentence'.
Earlier this year, former HMP Wandsworth prison officer Linda De Sousa Abreu, 30, was jailed for 15 months after having sex with an inmate in a cell. Footage of the act was widely shared on social media.
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