Disgraced prison officer Linda De Sousa Abreu has been sentenced for having a steamy affair with an inmate, but plenty of others get away with it according to one ex con.
Tony Gooch, 42, who turned his life around 14 years ago after being in and out of prison, claims to have been embroiled in a romance with a prison officer in jail, and knows all too well the ramifications if caught. Today Linda De Sousa Abreu was jailed for 15 months after pleading guilty to misconduct after having sex with an inmate in a cell.
The 30-year-old married mother, of Fulham, south-west London, was charged after a video of the salacious activity was shared widely on social media. Tony, who spent a total of 9.5 years locked away for violent crimes including theft, burglary and assault, didn’t question why or how the De Sousa Abreu case happened like the majority of non-convicts.
Instead, the dad queried why anyone would film the incident – as the first unwritten rule about having a relationship inside is not to let anyone find out, he warns.
Tony, who says mobiles are widely available behind bars, said: “I could never understand why it was filmed. You’re asking for trouble. You’re leaving an evidential trace and you don’t want anyone else to know about the relationship because if someone is jealous, they’ll more than likely grass you up to the officers. Which is what happened in my case.”
The former jailmate, who broke free from crime after gaining a new perspective on life after becoming a dad for the first time, claims having a relationship with a female prison officer or any other member of staff in the prison is just the same as starting a relationship on the outside.
At the age of around 25 while inside at HMP Highpoint, he took a liking to one of his officers – said to be in her thirties – and this blossomed into a six-month fling. “I got caught up in what they called an improper relationship with a female member of staff. It happens,” Tony told the Mirror. “It’s no different inside than on the outside.
“You could be in a fish and chip shop and if you see someone that you’re attracted to, and it’s reciprocated, then something will happen. Someone will instigate it and make the first move, only difference is that the officer should have some professionalism.”
Opening up about his jail affair, Tony added: “The minute we locked eyes on each other, you could just tell there was something there.” He said they started flirting and it progressed from there. The now-dad-of-two and father to three stepchildren claims an anonymous source had clocked on to their intimacy. Mr Gooch was forced into segregation for 16 weeks which he described as “torture” while the officer in question was struck off, he says. He was then moved to HMP Wayland as a result.
Tony claims to have had intercourse with the staff member – who according to him, was married at the time – on several occasions. Due to his job as a food server, he had to come out of his cell earlier than other inmates to get the meals out.
The dad, who trained to become an HGV driver once released the final time and describes his new life as a ‘reincarnation’, alleges she would come to his cell first. “We would get a quick 10 minutes together. We squeezed it in when we could,” he admits. Tony says other people started to notice how much time they were spending together, despite her being stationed on another wing.
Tony said they were both fully aware of the risks, despite there being no conversation between the pair about it. “It’s blatantly obvious, you know it shouldn’t be happening,” he explained.
The harsh reality of getting caught quickly sinks in, according to the ex-convict. “What the public doesn’t realise is that your life is made hell as an inmate too. You’re going to get put in segregation for a long time, you’re going to get shipped to another prison because you’re deemed as a security risk – they don’t know what that female officer has told you about the inner workings of the prison,” Tony says.
“It goes on to your record as well. It can cause a prisoner a lot, a lot of problems. It can jeopardise a de-cat, where you can be put into a lower category prison so it’s more secure [a Category D prison]. For an officer, they’re immediately dismissed.”
While in segregation, Tony had to have an ‘algorithm’ signed off every week by the governor, priest and doctor. Without the signatures, you’re deemed ‘unfit’ for segregation, he says.
He claims four officers attended his cell each time the door was unlocked, and his mattress and other belongings were removed, leaving him with just four walls and a cardboard desk. “You go insane. There is no one to have a conversation with, it’s just torture.”
An inmate even told him through the cell window to fake a suicide to get kicked out of the isolation, he claims. After 16 weeks of segregation, Tony got so desperate that he crafted a fake suicide plot when he knew officers were due to come in to give him his food. He was then moved into a strip cell for a week, watched by an officer. Tony then got moved to HMP Weighland in Norfolk, where he was then released in 2008.
Despite all of this, he doesn’t regret the relationship. “There are certain things you have to go without in prison and one of them is sex. When you go through the prison system, everything in your life you hold dear is taken away,” the ex-gang member, who featured in Channel 4’s Banged Up alongside celebrities, explained.
“It’s extremely difficult to make the transition. If something you miss dearly is then offered to you on a plate, you’re more than likely to take it. You have to be a very strong-willed person not to. I know people who have been married for years and years and have been propositioned by staff and are taken instantly.
“If you’re doing a long prison sentence, you might never get the offer again. And it’s a long time to go without having relationships with women. And it’s not just the sex – you miss cuddling a woman, kissing a woman, because that again is limited on visits. So it’s sort of having that, that intimate relationship that you’re used to outside and what adds to it is that it brings out that naughty boy side of you – you shouldn’t be doing it and you’re doing it.
“And you sort of realise that if any of the inmates in that prison had the same opportunity as you, they would be doing it and they’re not and you are. So it sort of adds to the intrigue.”
Mr Gooch, who has built his own film production ART, with his latest film Superstar – The Making of An Icon available on Amazon Prime, argues intimacy with a partner can be possible during visitation hours, depending on an inmate’s privileges. There are three levels: basic, standard and enhanced.
While regular visits involve sitting in a room alongside 100 other cellmates, a convict with enhanced privileges can see their loved ones in a room with just 20 others. “It’s a bit more intimate,” Tony reflected.
“I’ve had girls visit me on those visits and I’ve managed to do things with them… Obviously you can’t have sex, but you can do other things when the officer isn’t looking. There are opportunities but it’s potluck.”
Tony argues that sexual frustration among inmates is only natural, and raised how pornographic material, such as magazines, was banned in prison in the ’80s. He claims prisoners now access material by smuggling in USB sticks containing porn, which can then be plugged into the TVs, creating new revenue for inmates.
The only way to solve the problem of inmate-prisoner relationships, Tony says, is to ban female officers from being alone with them. “As long as there are females around males, there will always be an occasion when two individuals are attracted to each other and something’s going to happen,” he asserts.
“They could increase the prison sentences for female staff as a deterrent but look at British society as a whole – they give out 30 years for murder and people still kill so I don’t think that would work. And it’s not just officers, I know people who have had relationships with prison nurses, receptionists, probation officers. It can happen anywhere.”
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Misconduct in office is not tolerated and we are doing more than ever to catch the minority who break the rules including bolstering our Counter-Corruption Unit and strengthening our vetting processes.
“The overwhelming majority of Prison Service staff are hardworking and honest and it would be wrong to question their professionalism as a direct result of the small number who aren’t.”
