Law&Crime Sidebar - Female Prison Guard Jailed for Sexting Inmate

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

Toni Cole, a 29-year-old prison officer in the UK, has reportedly admitted that she shared more than 4-thousand “inappropriate” texts and calls with a 28-year-old male inmate at HMP Five Wells prison. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber spoke with prison consultant Justin Paperny about the apparent increase of female jailers engaging in misconduct with male inmates.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 40% off your first order with Trade at https://drinktrade.com/sidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. We got another female prison guard arrested and jailed for having some sort of relationship with a prisoner in their charge. We got details on what she's accused of doing, how she got caught, and the punishment she's now undergoing. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, let's talk about Tony Cole, a 29-year-old prison officer in the UK,

who has reportedly admitted that she shared more than 4,000 inappropriate text messages and calls with a 28-year-old inmate over a pretty short period of time, just five months. Now she's going to be spending a year behind. bars. This is sound just eerily familiar to a lot of what we've been covering recently. Well, I want to bring back on, friend of the show, prison consultant, Justin Perperney, to talk more about this. Justin, so good to see you. Thanks for taking the time. I mean, here we are again. Initial thoughts when you hear about a story of a prison official allegedly having inappropriate relations with an inmate or resident, as we'll talk about

why they're referred to as residents. Just your overall thoughts on that. Look, certainly the prison bears some responsibility in the training and the oversight. There should be mental health training evaluations consistently, but there's also some personal responsibility that has to take place. When things happened here is you have personal vulnerabilities in someone's life, maybe some insecurity, some depression, some mental health issues that compel them to think they're forming this intimate relationship. And I'm also convinced the more this happens, there's this thrill of risk taking, I believe,

Like, it's, I work as a guard. It's kind of boring. It's the same thing every day. It's like the grind. And maybe I won't get caught. And of course, in prison, if you're there, some people are able to manipulate and groom and exploit and find that weakness that together with this idea of risk taking. Maybe we won't get caught.

It is a toxic, toxic environment. And unfortunately, it's entrapping more and more women and destroying their lives. And in some cases, you know, they're having children. and babies, and it's a lifelong sanction in so many ways. By the way, you talked about the training. What can you tell us? What is the training to become a prison guard, a prison official? What is the background check?

What is the, I'm assuming there's some sort of mental health evaluation. I imagine even if there, so talk to us about that, but I also imagine, like you said, it can be tough to predict this would, this kind of thing would happen. It could be tough to try to, you know, prevent this from happening. Who knows what might actually happen when you have that interaction, between the prison officials and the inmates. But talk to us about what that training is and what it encompasses.

It's hard to get people to work in some prisons, okay? So sometimes it's the bare minimum. You passed a background check, no criminal history, some level of education, you're able to show up on time and follow some processes. Other than that, it's not a ton because around the globe, it's hard to get someone to work in some of these prison towns. After someone's hired,

there has to be continuing training of staff, along with the inmates, and that simply isn't happening. What happens in this very, like, distorted environment is there's like a power dynamic that happens, a woman around hundreds of men, and it's easy to feel important. This dynamic shifts, and in time, boundaries erode. I've received a phone call a few months ago from a nurse who got into trouble in a camp with prisoners. How did it happen?

They're in mail call or pill call. We're talking, and we form a friendship, and there's some similarities. And before you now, you know, boundaries have totally eroded where you're getting into details that you should not cover. And then if you can be manipulated, boom, terrible things happen. The training needs to come around boundaries and learning to live in this very weird, distorted world of a prison. And if you're a woman, the training needs to be totally enhanced because hundreds of men could be looking to exploit and take advantage of you. And many can feel coerced or pressure to feel important, getting some love or luxury. or interest they're not getting at home. And before you know it, you're walking to a sentencing

hearing with a shirt or bag over your head so no one will see you. By the way, as an aside, I hope you can tell from the almost 1,500 episodes of Cybar that we've done how much work goes into these. I mean, for me, reading legal brief after legal brief, it is a lot of late nights, early morning. So what helps me to wake up? What helps me to stay up? While we just partner with this amazing sponsor, trade coffee, look, I'm actually very particular about what I put into my body, which is why I value our sponsor trade coffee so much because I took their quiz and in under a minute, they match me with my perfect coffee. See, the way it works is trade sources from top independent coffee roasters all across the United States, and then they match me to the

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She was working as a prison officer at H-M-P-5 Wells. So this is a newer prison just opened in 2022. Apparently replaced Wellingboro Prison, which closed in 2012. It houses more than 1,600 prisoners. But it is probably not what you would. normally expect when you think of a prison, it is a category C prison. So it's our understanding that is for lower risk offenders. There are no bars on the windows. The cells are called rooms. They look like small dorm rooms that you might see at a college. And the inmates, they're not actually

called inmates. They're called residents. So you have access to things like a gym and table games, as well as workshops and things like carpentry and engineering. And the prison's director says that five wells is predicated on rehabilitation and resettlement. Well, prisoners can certainly lose access to privileges. It is very different from many of the other UK prisons out there and ones that we've talked about here on the show. So Justin, you know, these types of prisons have been criticized for being too cushy, too lenient for people who've committed serious crimes. Your thoughts on this? What you just described sounds like a minimum security camp where I served 18 months in 2008. When you are in this environment without fences,

or barbed wire, it's more of a dorm-like setting, it's easier to form friendships or in many cases be intimate because in a lower security setting there's going to be fewer staff. Where I serve time could be one guard for 125 inmates, which means if you want to go rogue and do something wrong, it is very easy. Another issue we have to consider, regardless of the security level, if you go into corrections, you could argue you sympathize with the prison population. You believe in these people in second chances. You may be choosing it for a reason.

So it can be easy for a guard to be manipulated. I shouldn't be here. It wasn't my fault. I had a very terrible upbringing. They could be seeking sympathy. And in so doing, they are reeling in this staff member. And over time, the boundaries cross. And before you know it, they're sending thousands of text messages.

Where there is a will, there is a way. I see it in the penitentiary, the most highly restricted prisons, all the way down to the camp. If a prisoner is looking to woo or take advantage of a guard, regardless of the security, level, I can assure you, it is going, it is going to happen. It is going to happen. That, I'm glad you mentioned that because one of the big questions I had is how did this all unfold, right? So you go back to Cole and I want you to everybody to keep in mind that there is this, you know, like you said, this minimum security prison kind of element. So officials say that between September 1st, 2022 and January 25th, 2023, Cole shared 4,431 tax, you know,

messages and calls with an inmate. And those texts and calls were described as sexualized or flirtatious. There was at least one photo of a pair of underwear. This is according to the BBC. Justin, it's not entirely clear if this inmate had a tablet or whatnot, but I assume that might have been one of the privileges here. How does one receive so many text messages and calls in a setting like this? Well, even if they don't have access to a tablet and if they did, the prison wouldn't allow them to get this information. Any prison, anywhere around the world, there are iPhones, there are drugs brought in by staff, people during visitations, so they have shakedowns frequently to try to ferret or get rid of them.

But there's no doubt. This prisoner had access to a device he was not allowed to have. And it enabled him to have a sense of connection from prison communicating with her. It's thrilling. It's interesting in so many ways. Prison can be a lot of boredom day by day, the same thing. So this could be excitement to his day. And then he found some prisoner, some guard with like a false sense of loyalty or love.

She found an emotional connection. She was convinced that it was worth risking all of this for this connection that she had had. But it's very easy on the inside to get access to an iPhone or a tablet, whatever you want to do to advance your agenda. Let me ask you a question. If he did have tablet privileges, does the prison then look at all the messages to see what he might? Or is it have the ability to receive messages or whatnot? And by the way, again, there's not a lot of details about this, but if she was the one who was supposed to be monitoring the tablet usage, I mean, obviously that would be a conflict. But how does it work in terms of if you do have a tablet?

Does it have the ability to send and receive messages? Is it reviewed after you after an inmate uses it? I'll get 20 emails today from people in our community from prison. It's a closed circuit security system. So every time an email comes to me, it takes about an hour to clear security. They have algorithms, buzzwords they're looking for. It clears. If I send an email, it takes an hour to clear.

Every phone call is recorded. Even snail mail, they can open the mail, read it, and save it. So in this case, it was clearly a contraband. It was contraband. She had her own phone. A lot of correctional officers, when you surrender or you go to work, I say surrender like they're in prison, they check their tablets. They check their phone for this very reason.

So they're not having inappropriate relationships. So now you have the conduct of having intimate relationships with a prisoner. Then there's all the ancillary conduct of getting the phone in, all of the work that goes into allowing this actually, you know, to happen. And it really requires commitment and like a deliberate drive has happened over a sustained period of time. And you get to a point of no returns, right? So if you're vulnerable, you're emotional, you're dealing with depression, mental health issues. You have terrible training. You have convinced yourself this prisoner has had it wrong this whole life.

You're getting attention you might not have at home. You like the thrill of risk taking. Maybe I will or won't get caught. That's when you have, I hit the mic. That's how serious it is. Then you have a really toxic combination that leads to what we're talking about right now. And by the way, as it turns out, it was actually a different investigation that got Cole caught. So the BBC reports she had a meeting with her supervisors in January of 2023 because she had worked in unauthorized overtime shift a couple days earlier.

And CCTV footage from that shift showed Cole spent a. lot of time with one specific prisoner. The BBC reports that at one point, he had his arm around her. There are also reports that officials say Cole had allegedly kissed the prisoner, sat on his lap, promised to tip him off if his cell was going to be searched. So Cole was arrested. Police seized her cell phone from her locker. And that is when they discovered all of these messages and phone calls. You know, Justin, talk to us about what the danger is here. Talk to us about, you know, somebody might look at the story and say, uh, totally in a appropriate, maybe just a slap on the wrist, shouldn't get a job back, but what is the bigger

danger here? Walk us through this. It's a huge danger for other female correctional officers, right? So there's this power dynamic. If there's a few women amongst hundreds of men and the prison creates these conditions that allows a male prisoner to exploit a female guard, it can embolden or encourage other prisoners to like follow through to exploit other female guards, coerce them, financial pressure. if you don't do this, there's going to be a consequence, manipulate them. We're supposed to be

together. I'm going to get out of here soon and we're going to be together. So without proper training and following these guards and holding them accountable, it really opens up risk for for female prison guards. And that's the risk here. And that's part of the reason we're seeing prison as part of the consequence here. I mean, they've removed her from the environment. She's never going to be a guard again, which tells you she's never going to be able to sleep with her send 4,000 text messages again, but it's more the deterrence component. So other staff members know what happens when you cross these boundaries or given to temptation or love this idea of taking risks. It's the deterrence component of why they're going to prison because it's if I was a female

prison guard in these places, I'd be thinking who's looking to take advantage of me? Who's looking to exploit me? What is this power dynamic like? That's the reason. Well, is it also they could get access to materials that allow them to escape, right? I mean, if, if they're The prison guard has some sort of weapon on them, has keys on them, has security cards on them. I feel that that's a big danger as well. It places that whole security unit in jeopardy. Prisons care about two things. Security of the institution and keeping costs down.

So when you have a vulnerable guard that isn't trained, that's easy to do it, you're going to have these sorts of problems that we're dealing with right now. So there has to be a better tone at the top, better training, better accountability. The problem is it's expensive to train when you're not paying correctional officers enough to begin with. And it's part of the reason these things happen. I know some staff members have gotten into trouble with prisoners over the years under the idea we're going to be together when it's over. Or a prisoner may say, I have millions of dollars waiting for me or this opportunity waiting for me on the other side. Your life is boring. You work inside of a prison.

It's very easy to become distorted and they buy into some vision of what life is going to be like afterwards. And they don't have the emotional ability to recognize I'm being emotionally exploited. I am vulnerable. I'm crossing boundaries. I'm not trained. And before you know it, a prisoner is taking advantage of people. Detective Inspector Richard Cornell from a regional prison intelligence unit also said Tony Cole knew what she was doing was totally inappropriate and that her behavior was not only putting her at risk, but also the safety of her colleagues and inmates. The majority of prison staff carry out their duties to the highest standards. And I hope this sentence sends a clear message to those who seek to undermine public trust.

while holding positions of authority that inappropriate relationships will be robustly dealt with using the full force of the law. And she was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment order to pay a 187 pound fine, around $237 in U.S. currency. How much of a stain, Justin, does this put on the prison system? Because again, this ain't the first story that we've talked about. And by the way, before we leave, I'm going to talk about some more that we haven't had a chance to talk about yet. It confirms what so many people think that corrections around the globe are a failed experiment. It's part of the reason recidivism rates around the globe are so high. You leave prison.

You're going to break the law in return. Statistics are troubling. And people would argue part of the reason this is happening is because of how poorly staff is trained, how little money they make, the accountability that follows if someone breaks the law. I mean, there should be a whole separate set of training if a male or female is working inside of an alternative sex prison in our pay. love will make you do crazy things. Okay, that's the case here. She was infatuated with him. She loved him.

She convinced herself that this guy was different. And there has to be such oversight to ensure these things don't happen. And if anyone crossed the line or there's any belief that something is going bad, they have to remove that person immediately. But it just confirms what so many people think about corrections. It's a failed experiment. Well, as it turns out, this prison was already kind of infamous for relationships. between female guards and male prisoners. We have Rachel Stanton.

Mama 5, avoided prison time in 2024 for having a romantic and sexual relationship with an inmate named Edwin Poole. In fact, she ended up having Poole's baby. Poole was serving a 10-year sentence for a series of violent armed robberies and UK outlets report that the romance was discovered when other prison staff found three explicit photos

and a love letter in Poole cell. So Stanton was suspended. Poole was moved to another prison. The Daily Mail reports that Stanton continued to visit Poole at this new location. They now have a child together, but according to the Daily Mail, they have since separated. The judge reportedly told Stanton that he understood that this was a consensual relationship, but that it was still completely outside the bounds of the law. She was given a suspended nine-month jail sentence so long as she could behave herself for two years,

not getting to any kind of legal trouble. Just had to take part in 20 days of rehab. have. Justin, that is a wild one, right? So having a baby with an inmate, but I'm sure this is not the first one you've seen. It's not the first one we've seen. The baby is what kept her out of prison. The fact that it's consensual helps. But this was from what I've researched, she liked attention. She wasn't afraid to post some photos and some risky outfits. So if you're in prison and someone is complimenting you, you're beautiful, you're smart, I value you, I need you, I have these plans on the other side. It is the emotional manipulation in my experience and leveraging

off someone's personal vulnerabilities that can compel someone to think, this guy's different. I love this person and I'm going to help this person and we're going to be together. And when staff isn't paying attention and they're allowing it to happen. And once that, it's kind of like white color crime. Like once you've done it once and you convince yourself that it's okay, the next time is easier once you cross that boundary and you go a little further there ain't no going back then you're in too deep in these things happen i will tell you that baby is the reason she didn't go to prison well isn't interesting i've spoken to experts on this and they say one of the main attractions to starting a relationship with a prisoner or an inmate is you know where they are at all times right

this is uh you know where they are it's a kind of a limited relationship you're in control um and i wonder how many times when that person is released, do those relationships are they continue afterwards? Are they successful afterwards? Is that prison environment to go full circle with what you mentioned at the beginning of the conversation? Is that what's intoxicating for a lot of people in these scenarios? It is a different cultural or workplace norm. There's no doubt because you get a leave and then they're staying. So to a degree, you can kind of like be a different person during the And you don't have to deal with the consequences of that once you leave the prison and return to your normal life. I don't know the statistics, though I would argue if we were to assess how many prison guards have had relationships with prison inmates, how many are successful post-release?

I don't think it's a big number. I'm going to inch more towards a zero for reasons that we have discussed. It's an it's an odd way to create a relationship. It's illegal. And it's based off goals or goals. things they're hoping to happen that will never happen. It's just a very toxic relationship. It's a toxic way for these things to end up. And I empathize with so many of these people, namely the family members, the children that truly endure as a result of this behavior. It's leveraging our ability, Jesse. That's what it is at the end of the day. It really is. And look, this is not the first time that we've talked about female prison guards behaving badly lately here on Sidebar. What was the last month? Linda D'Souza-Abreu,

A married mother, only fans creator. Yeah, yeah, right. We've had a few. She stands out, though, Linda DeSuzza-Breou. So she was this married mother, only-fans creator. She was a prison guard at HMP Wonsworth. She was sentenced for being filmed having sex with an inmate in a cell while wearing her uniform. Another inmate was holding the camera.

At one point said they made history. This is how we roll in Wandsworth. According to court testimony, Abraeu had started work in January of 2020. after completing basic training, which included warnings about avoiding circumstances where she could be compromised by inmates. Now, the judge in this case, Martin Edmonds, Casey, said that Abraeu's actions could have caused more harm than she even knows. At the time of the offense, you were distracted from your job and your radio and keys were

at risk. That is, in itself, a risk. An inappropriate relationship whether freely entered into or the result of manipulation by a prisoner creates a significant risk to the good order of the prison and makes the prison officer vulnerable to coercion by the prisoner to disclose information or carry contraband. The consequence of your behaviour becoming known within the prison has been that female officers at Wandsworth have been subject to abuse and harassment from prisoners.

female officers have reported being subject to sexual approaches and say that they have become seen as fair game. And Abraeu told the court that she was under duress. In fact, she released a TikTok video before her sentencing, apparently trying to clear up rumors that were swirling about her. On the topic of impersonation, I thought it's very important for me to address this very distasteful subject of only fans' creators impersonating and pretending to be me and recreating the scenario of said scound. which I am involved in. Very, very distasteful for you to monetise or advertise yourselves as me for OF content. And lastly, I wanted to tell you all that you do not know my side of the story. The media has a great way of getting a narrative and twisting it for its own benefit.

The media love any story to be salacious and sensational. and they sensationalize everything. And an apparent friend of Brayu's told the Daily Mail, there's a lot more to this story than people think. Some of the prisoners had got hold of Linda's personal details. They knew her address, her husband's name, that she had an only fan's account. She was put under a lot of pressure and there was a lot of coercion involved. Linda was going through a very hard time at work because of all of this.

And after considering any mitigating factors, the judge sentenced to Brayu to spend 15 months behind bars. Justin, just to come full circle with that one, we talked about, that case. Where does that one rank stand out to you in terms of this overall conversation? Probably the worst because it's back to that thrill of risk taking. To be in your uniform, know that you're going to get filmed. There's this like forbidden nature of the relationship. She knows that it's wrong yet she's willing to put it out there in the uniform with the iPhone in front of the inmates allowing herself to be filmed. There was some breakdown or fracture that compelled her to think like, I'm not going to get

caught. This is okay. Or she loved the attention or the idea like that this was actually happening together with a prisoner paying her a lot of attention. You mentioned something about them having access to personal information. That's the risk for the prison, right? That's when it leads to potential exploitation. We have your family information. We need this to continue or else something's going to happen to your family. And then you convince yourself like you have no other choice on some sex slave, so to speak. This has to continue or else something's going to happen to my family. That's part of the reason they're getting prison sentences. These judges want people to know the consequences that are going to happen because the greatest they need to protect. It's hard to get

people to work there, Jesse. Let me be clear. They're not paid a ton of money. And now you put them at greater risk. That's the reason we're seeing the sentencing. That was the most abrasive of all to do it in that environment. I would tell you, it's the idea that risk taking. And she got caught. That's part of the reason people do it. Will I get caught? And in some instances, you could argue maybe they do want to get caught and endure the fallout. That thing comes back to some of the mental health issues or the emotional issues that they're dealing with. There's a reason she crossed the line. And not only crossing the line, not even trying to cover it up in the sense like, you know, sending text messages, calls, filming. It's so blatant. It's unbelievable. Look, we talk about how wild

it is. But as you said, you know, during the course of this show, this is no joke. This is very serious. This is a big problem. And unfortunately, Justin, I don't think that this is the last time you and I are going to be talking about this. I have a feeling we'll probably see more of this down the line. But Justin Piperney, thank you so much for coming on. Great insight. As always, appreciate you taking the time. Good to see you. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series, add free right now on Wondery Plus.

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