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Prison Officers: Misconduct

Asked by Nick TimothyConservativeMinistry of JusticeTabled Answered 27 March 2026UIN 122261

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have been (a) arrested, (b) charged, and (c) prosecuted for having illicit relationships with prison inmates in each year since 2020, broken down by offence group.

Answered by Jake Richards

The table below shows the number of prison officers at Bands 3-5 convicted in each of the last five years of an offence of misconduct in public office, where the offence related to an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner.

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

Misconduct in Public Office

0

3

5

12

6

15

An inappropriate relationship is defined as any relationship that compromises a staff member’s ability to appropriately perform their duties.

The figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

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