A prison officer has been sentenced to 15 months after having sex with an inmate at a London jail.
Linda De Sousa Abreu, 30, of Fulham, south-west London, was charged after a video of the activity was shared on social media.
A police investigation was launched after officers were made aware of a video filmed inside HMP Wandsworth. In the footage, an inmate off-camera can be heard saying: “This is how we live at Wandsworth, bruv.”
De Sousa Abreu appeared at Isleworth crown court on Monday, where she was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Judge Edmunds said: “On 25 June 2024 you were on duty in uniform when you went to a cell with the prisoner. You took off your prison-issue radio and put it to one side. Your set of keys was at risk of being taken.
“A second prisoner was present and had a camera, doubtless on a phone which must have been an unauthorised phone. He also appears to have been smoking cannabis. Rather than challenge his possession of a phone or cannabis, you consented to him recording what was happening.
“The recording lasts some four and a half minutes, during which you gave the prisoner oral sex, then vaginal intercourse in a number of positions, before concluding by giving more oral sex.
“You participated with evident enthusiasm. The second prisoner recorded events and provided a commentary by way of encouragement, including saying: ‘Guys we made history,’ ‘This is how we live at Wandsworth, bruv’ and ‘You know you are a gangsta.’”
The indictment said De Sousa Abreu “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 engaging in a sexual act with a prisoner in a prison cell”.
De Sousa Abreu was arrested and pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office at Isleworth crown court in July last year. She was arrested at Heathrow airport as she was due to catch a flight to Madrid, having notified the prison of her travel plans.
HMP Wandsworth has been called the worst prison in England and Wales, described as having “inhumane conditions”.
In October, two prison officers at HMP Wandsworth were dismissed for joking about an inmate’s suicide on a WhatsApp group. After the 21-year-old prisoner killed himself, messages celebrating his death were posted on a group containing 27 members of staff employed at the south-west London jail.
