EIGHTEEN female staff members at a jail have been sacked or resigned after being accused of getting too close to inmates.

Three women guards at Berwyn prison, Wrexham - Britain’s biggest men’s jail and dubbed the “cushiest” – have been jailed for flings with prisoners.

But now a Freedom of Information inquiry has revealed a much wider problem at the prison which opened in February 2017 and has more than 2,000 inmates.

Anti-corruption training has been given to 500 staff in a bid to stop affairs.

Prison authorities are keen to improve the image of the Welsh jail and labelled frontline staff “heroes.”

But both guards and other staff from “partnerships” operating within Berwyn, where rehabilitation is a key aim, have had to resign or been sacked for crossing boundaries.

The FOI response revealed: ”Eighteen female staff have had or are suspected of having inappropriate relationships with prisoners here at HMP Berwyn.

“We have had 12 female staff resign of which nine were from partnerships within the establishment and three were operational staff.

The Leader: HMP BerwynHMP Berwyn (Image: Staff)

“We have also had six female staff sacked since 2017 of which four were operational, and we have had three operational staff who have either served or are serving a custodial sentence for their actions.”

The Prison Service added: ”Over 500 members of staff at HMP Berwyn have undertaken corruption prevention training in the last 18 months and our enhanced security is protecting the prison against attempts to smuggle illicit items inside.

“Our frontline staff are nothing short of heroes – undergoing an extremely tough and demanding job day-in day-out to get criminals back on the straight and narrow and keep our streets safe.

“It is for their sake we will never tolerate those few officers who think they are above the law.

"That’s why our newly bolstered Counter Corruption Team is working around the clock to root out and clamp down on those who undermine our exemplary service with their dangerous behaviour and ensure they face the strongest possible consequences for their crimes.”

In December a corrupt prison officer who fell in love with a prisoner wept as she was jailed for eight months. Jennifer Gavan, 27, of Llay, Wrexham, pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office between April and July 2020 at Berwyn.

She was accused of entering into an inappropriate relationship with prisoner Alex Coxon, now 25, accepting £150 to bring a mobile phone into the jail and communicating with him via a phone held illegally in Berwyn.

In 2019 a guard who had a fling with a “dangerous” inmate was locked up for 12 months.

Numerous phone calls, some sexually explicit, took place between criminology and psychology graduate Ayshea Gunn, 27, and Khuram Razaq, 29. He was an inmate at Berwyn serving 12 years for conspiracy to rob.

She smuggled in a pair of knickers for him inside her bra.

Mold crown court heard in Gunn’s bedroom were snaps of the pair kissing and hugging, some mobile phone pictures taken in his cell.

The same year prison officer Emily Watson, 26, was jailed after performing a sex act on an inmate in his cell on Christmas Day.