Here we go again. Another episode of “How did you think this would end?” starring a prison officer, an inmate, and a phone that absolutely did not belong behind bars.
Prison officer Charlotte Winstanley is now enjoying a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence after deciding her job description needed a little chaos. Instead of guarding inmates at HMP Lindholme near Doncaster, she decided to guard one inmate’s feelings very closely.
Her chosen leading man was Jabhari Blair, a 30-year-old prisoner who clearly didn’t need early release. What he needed, apparently, was a phone, attention, and a steady supply of bad decisions and Charlotte delivered.
According to court details, Winstanley smuggled in a range of contraband, including a mobile phone. Not snacks, not extra socks, aphone. The one thing prisons really don’t want inmates having. Shocking twist: the phone was not used to call mum.
Instead, the phone became the couple’s personal communication hub. It was used to send explicit photos and videos.
Sheffield Crown Court was told that in one message, Winstanley, of Coronation Road, Doncaster, told Blair: “I love my job, but I love you more.”
Blair, a former organised gang member who was jailed in 2014 for 12 and a half years, was given a 13-month sentence after admitting possessing cannabis, a prohibited phone and USB stick.
Winstanley admitted misconduct in public office and transmitting a photograph from inside a prison.
Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, the Recorder of Sheffield, described the the case as the “worst” of its type he had dealt with.
This is wild!
Prosecutor Aaron Dinnes told the court that prison cameras had picked up “intimate moments” showing them touching and disappearing together into rooms.
Dinnes said one message from Blair indicated that he “can’t wait to give Miss Winstanley a beautiful baby”.
Richardson told the court that in October 2020 Winstanley had become an operational support officer at HMP Lindholme, then became a prison officer and received anti-corruption training.
“Whilst working on J-Wing, you started a corrupt relationship with Blair,” he said.
“You knew it was wrong and against all the training you’d received.”
He said although there were “suspicions” about her, she “brazened it out and continued [the] corrupt affair”.
The judge said a phone in prison was a “valuable commodity” and could be used for other for illegal purposes.
Richardson also said: “You professed love for each other and engaged in WhatsApp and Snapchat messages,” Richardson said, adding that many were “explicit and unnecessary”.
One message from Winstanley read: “I’m literally praying to have your babies”, while another stated: “Life starts now, baby. Every sacrifice I make I do so I can be with you.”
The judge said: “It is utterly clear that you both knew that what you were doing was unlawful and corrupt.”
He added that Winstanley gave Blair sensitive information about the movement of prisoners, healthcare information about other inmates and intelligence about a search scheduled to take place within his cell.
Now Charlotte gets to experience prison from the other side of the bars. No uniform, no authority. Just time and a lots of it.
And somewhere in the background, every prison training manual is screaming, “We told you so.”
Moral of the story? If your workplace romance requires smuggling phones into a high-security prison, maybe rethink it or at least don’t act surprised when the judge isn’t feeling the love.
