A 29-year-old female prison officer, Toni Cole, has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after being found guilty of misconduct in public office for engaging in a sexual relationship with a prisoner at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire.
The court heard that Cole sent 4,369 messages to the inmate and participated in 18 video calls, many of which contained sexual or flirtatious content. She was also caught kissing the prisoner, sitting on his lap, and even offering to provide unauthorized warnings about cell searches at the Category C super-prison.
The relationship, which took place between December 9, 2022, and January 25, 2023, was discovered by prison authorities, leading to Cole’s arrest. She later pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court.
Cole is the second female officer to be convicted for misconduct at HMP Five Wells. In summer 2023, trainee officer Rachel Stanton, 31, was handed a suspended sentence after her affair with armed robber Edwin Poole was exposed. Prison staff found intimate photos and a love letter in Poole’s cell, and CCTV footage captured them spending an hour together in a prison storeroom.
In December 2024, reports emerged that a third female officer had been arrested and suspended for similar misconduct, though her identity remains undisclosed.
The £253 million G4S-run prison has been under intense scrutiny, with concerns raised about staff safety, drug issues, and food shortages following inspections.
