A former prison officer who boasted of performing a sex act on an inmate has been jailed for 21 months.
Katie Evans, 26, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court after being described by the judge as "manipulated by an experienced criminal".
Evans, a mother of one, wept in the dock as Judge Jeremy Richardson KC detailed how she was "corrupted" shortly after beginning her career at Doncaster Prison in South Yorkshire at the age of 21. The court heard how Evans developed an intimate relationship with prisoner Daniel Brownley, engaging in over 140 phone calls with him, transferring money between bank accounts on his behalf, and providing him with confidential prison information.
Last week, Evans admitted to an "intimate" relationship with Brownley, although prosecutors noted it remained unclear whether she acknowledged the sexual nature of the relationship. Judge Richardson sentenced Evans to 21 months imprisonment.
The judge heard she had boasted to an ex-prison officer that she had performed oral sex on the inmate and the defendant referred to herself as “your queen” when talking to Brownley.
On Tuesday, Judge Richardson told Evans: “It appears you indulged in some form of sexual activity in the prison. It has been described that on one occasion you had oral sex with him.
“It is truly a terrible situation for a judge to be passing sentence on a former prison officer who has been branded a corrupt prison officer.”
Judge Richardson told Evans “he corrupted you and not the reverse”, adding: “I’m entirely satisfied you were manipulated by an experienced criminal to assist him.”
But he said: “Your misconduct materially affected the good order and discipline of the prison.”
The judge said Evans was “young and immature” at the time of the offending in 2020 and that she was “regrettably susceptible to manipulation”.
“You were inexperienced and immature but that is, however, no excuse for what you did,” he told her.
He said he accepted she was genuinely remorseful and posed no danger to the public in the future.
Judge Richardson said the sentence of 21 months should have been longer but, “purely as an act of mercy”, he reduced it to take into account the effect it will have on Evans’ relationship with her young daughter and the difficulties she will have in prison as a former officer.
The judge also outlined the issues prisons are currently having with accommodating inmates serving short sentences.
But he said the offending was “so serious that only an immediate sentence of imprisonment is appropriate in this case”.
Evans, of Hatfield, Doncaster, admitted misconduct in a public office at a previous hearing.
Still crying, she waved at family members in the public gallery as she was led from the dock.
The court heard that Brownley had been jailed for five-and-a-half years in 2016 for attempted robbery, burglary and handling stolen goods.
He had been released but was back in prison in 2020 after he was recalled for breaching his licence conditions.
