A prison officer who had a four-month affair with an inmate has escaped an immediate custodial sentence.
Alisha Fallows, 23, had a relationship with Damien Baxendale at HMP Lancaster Farms, a court heard.
She was working there as a prison custody officer at the time.
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A judge was told their 'inappropriate' relationship spanned a period of time between November, 2020 and February, 2021.
Baxendale, from Deane, Bolton, is currently serving a prison sentence for two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent.
He was jailed for 10 years in 2014 after violently assaulting his then girlfriend.
Fallows communicated with Baxendale through mobile phones and via the prison telephone system, whilst pretending to be a family member, police said.
Following a joint investigation between the Prison Anti-Corruption Unit at the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit and HM Prisons' NW Counter-Corruption Unit, she was arrested in December 2020 on suspicion of misconduct in a public office.
Fallows, of Goldsmith Street, Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to the offence at an earlier hearing.
On Friday, at Preston Crown Court, she was handed a 10-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.
Baxendale pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited item and was jailed for an additional 10 months.
Detective Superintendent Karen Jaundrill Kitchen, from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: "Alisha Fallows abused her position as a prison custody officer by choosing to have inappropriate relationships with an inmate and she will now have to face the consequences of her actions.
"We want to reassure the honest, dedicated and hardworking staff that work in our prisons that we will continue to take action against people who choose to engage in corrupt activity."
