Prison Officer, 20, Jailed After Admitting Sexual Relationship With Inmate

Another day, another prison officer shagging an inmate and smuggling weed into prison.

This time it’s 20-year-old Alicia Novas at HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough, who pleaded guilty to six offences including misconduct in public office, passing on the name of an informant, and bringing cannabis into prison.

Novas, who began working at the prison at 18 (!), became involved with 31-year-old Declan Winkless, who was serving an 11-year prison sentence for aggravated burglary and conspiracy to burgle.

Teenaged Novas began working at the prison in July 2024, while Winkless had arrived the previous month. By November 2024, the pair were in a sexual relationship and WhatsApping each other after Novas gave Winkless her personal phone number.

In the end, Novas was given a three-year jail sentence and Winkless was handed an additional three years and four months for encouraging her to commit the offences.

Judge Rebecca Crane told Novas: “Given your age and inexperience, you were vulnerable to being manipulated. However, you could easily have reported matters to the prison authorities and sought assistance. You persisted in having contact over a significant period even after your arrest.”

Again this begs the question as to whether young women in their teens or barely out of their teens should be looking after grown adult men in prison.

These girls typically tend to come from troubled backgrounds; Alicia Novas herself was diagnosed with with emotional unstable personality disorder. Add to that her inexperience, hormones, and the power balance and lack of oversight in UK prisons and it’s a guaranteed recipe for disaster. We’ve basically got female children guarding violent blokes in prison!

I get that there’s probably a shortage of applications for this sort of work, but we simply cannot keep putting vulnerable young girls in charge and then act surprised when they end up getting off with the prisoners and doing favours for them. There’s got to be another way.

For the prison officer jailed after getting a tattoo of her inmate lover’s cell number on her leg, click HERE.