Sex behind bars, drug smuggling and theft - these are just some of the examples of when prison staff go bad.
Last week the ECHO covered the case of prison guard Emily Watson who abused her position to have sex with a killer driver behind bars.
The 26-year-old sobbed as she was jailed for 12 months, after striking up an illicit love affair with convicted death by dangerous driver Richard Bratin.
However over the past five years more than 2,500 prison staff have been subject to disciplinary action.
Data released by the Ministry of Justice under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that a total of 2,666 prison staff in England and Wales had been disciplined from 2013-2018.
And their actions included; being involved in relationships with inmates, assaulting prisoners and racism, the Guardian revealed.
Here are some of the cases the ECHO has covered over the years, which resulted in prison staff being convicted and/or struck off from their roles.
Emily Watson
"Thrill seeker" Emily Watson was jailed for 12 months after her sexual relationship with an inmate was uncovered.
The 26-year-old became infatuated with prisoner John McGee, who was serving eight years for death by dangerous driving after killing charity worker Richard Bratin, 51, as he walked his dog in Walton.
Watson, 26, described in court as a "thrill seeker", went alone into McGee's cell at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham several times, performing sex acts on him twice and had sex with him on one occasion, North Wales Live reports .
But she aroused suspicions after she was seen talking to McGee on a number of occasions and seen in his cell alone.
An investigation was subsequently carried out which uncovered their illicit romance.
The court heard Watson, who had worked in the prison since 2017, was "naive" and believed herself to be in love with McGee.
McGee was on licence from a custodial sentence, for supplying class A drugs, when he drove at excessive speed in an attempt to evade arrest in a police chase, in 2015.
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He drove with his lights off and ploughed into Mr Bratin on Richard Kelly Drive, Walton, before driving off.
Mr Bratin sadly died from his injuries.
Watson, of Jerusalem Road in Linthwaite, Huddersfield, wept as she was jailed for 12 months after she pleaded guilty to a charge of misconduct in public office by engaging in an intimate sexual relationship with a prisoner between October 2017 and the end of January 2018.
Paul Heap
Prison officer Paul Heap was jailed for smuggling drugs into a Merseyside jail inside cartons of juice.
Crack cocaine and cannabis were found hidden inside orange juice cartons when he was searched on his way into HMP Altcourse.
The drugs were said to be worth more than £200,000.
Heap was arrested in June 2017 when officers behind a top-level probe into drugs supply at the Fazakerley jail swooped on the 43-year-old as he attended the jail while on sick leave.
Heap, of Hartley's Village in Aintree , told police he had been pressured, though not directly threatened, into his part in the plot by a prisoner who he did not name.
He was jailed for nine years, in September 2018 after admitting 11 charges - seven of possession with intent to supply drugs, three of "conveying" prohibited items and a single count of money laundering.
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However in February he was also ordered to pay back just over £30,000 after a court heard he benefited from his drugs smuggle to the tune of £60,873.80, with his realisable assets totalled at around - £29,741.77.
Heap asked for three months to pay it back. If he does not, he could be handed extra jail time, as much as five years.
Lauren Joyce
Lauren Joyce became involved in an illicit relationship with Mark Smith while he served time at HMP Thorncross in Warrington .
The relationship was discovered when a search of Smith's cell in December 2017 led to the discovery of two mobile phones.
Analysis of the phones revealed Smith, of Harrops Croft, had been in a relationship with Joyce since July 2017 and the pair had contacted each other 490 times - even spending a total of 50 hours holding illegal conversations.
At Preston Crown Court Joyce, of Thirlmere Close, Adlington, Lancashire was handed a 12-month suspended sentence in November 2018.
The 23-year-old, who is no longer a prison officer, was also given 140 hours of community service after pleading guilty to misconduct in a public office.
Smith, 30, was given a six month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to four counts of possession of a prohibited article.
Following the sentencing Deputy Governor of HMP Wymott, Mike Baines, said: “The overwhelming majority of prison officers and staff do a fantastic job to very high standards, in what can be very demanding and difficult circumstances.
"Occasionally, they are let down by a colleague, who, through their corrupt actions allow prisoners to continue their criminal activity from within the establishment.
“This type of behaviour puts staff and the public at risk and will not be tolerated. We have developed close working relationships with the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) to jointly tackle corrupt activity in prisons."
Chelsea Blackwell
Infatuated prison officer Chelsea Blackwell used a "dirty phone" to make a catalogue of “romantic” calls and texts with a serving prisoner.
The then 27-year-old sent more than 850 texts to an inmate at Aylesbury Young Offenders Institution over a four week period.
Many were in the early hours of the morning, and some of them were sexual in nature, police said.
The prison officer also made 115 phone calls to the prisoner as she established a “romantic” relationship with the prisoner, some calls lasting more than two hours.
Blackwell, from Bootle , switched to using a second, ‘dirty phone’ and made five calls to the prisoner’s phone after it had been seized following a cell search.
Along with the texts and phone calls, four letters were also seized from the prisoner’s cell, and two more from Blackwell’s home address.
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And a forensic handwriting report concluded there was “very strong evidence” that Blackwell had written all of them.
Blackwell, of Harris Drive, Bootle, pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office.
She was jailed for eight months in August 2017.
Rachel Donegan
Prison nurse Rachel Donegan exchanged thousands of texts and phone calls with a sex offender behind bars.
The mental health nurse communicated a staggering 7,678 times with Lloyd Senior who was at Walton prison.
Senior was behind bars for sexually assaulting a teacher in a terrifying cocaine, ketamine and alcohol-fuelled street attack.
He was jailed for 30 months in November 2015 after chasing his victim through Kensington, while yelling: "I'm going to s**g you."
The pervert tackled the screaming woman to the ground and ripped off her clothes, before sexually assaulting her.
In jail, when Donegan found out Senior had an illicit mobile phone in his cell she began communications with him.
However their conversations were uncovered when Senior's cell was searched and the mobile found.
Judge Murray accepted Donegan was remorseful and handed her a 12-month community order, with 40 hours of unpaid work .
Gary Humphrey
HMP Altcourse prison officer Gary Humphrey stole an inmate’s bank card and used it to spend more than £300.
The 51-year-old took Marcin Kowalski’s Halifax card and PIN, which was meant to be posted to the prisoner’s family to support his children.
But the officer was caught on CCTV at the Fazakerley jail and when later using it to withdraw £260 in cash and buy £52 of petrol.
Humphrey - who had worked at the G4S privately run prison for nine years - quit his job before his case was brought to court.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how inmate Kowalski wanted his bank card to be sent to his sister - who was looking after his children - so she could withdraw cash.
He wrote down his PIN number and saw the note and card being put in an envelope, but did not see it being sealed.
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Two days later when his sister signed for the envelope, there was no bank card inside.
Humphrey, of Wainfleet Close, Wigan, admitted three counts of theft and a charge of fraud.
Judge Thomas Teague, QC, jailed Humphrey for 12 weeks, in 2015 and ordered him to pay £312 in compensation to Kowalski.
