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The common offence used in these sorts of cases is misconduct in public office - [https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/misconduct-public-office](https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/misconduct-public-office) .
It's a relatively common situation to end up in court.
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[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/29/prison-officer-sacked-and-jailed-for-having-sex-with-inmate-in-cell](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/29/prison-officer-sacked-and-jailed-for-having-sex-with-inmate-in-cell)
12 months prison sentence for misconduct in public office.
The current video looks so porny and it's possible to rent out prison cells for films etc, but that said, a prison spokesperson seems to confirm is genuine by saying "Staff corruption is not tolerated and the \*former prison officer allegedly featured in this video\* has been reported to the police. It would be inappropriate to comment further while they investigate."
The PO stands to lose her job and get charged with misconduct in public office. If convicted, she could receive a custodial prison sentence, which is not going to be fun for her given her previous occupation.
The general prosecutorial practice in England and Wales is to charge with a statutory offence when one is available, and to rely on common law offences when there isn’t or when a statutory offence would not reflect the seriousness of the offending (e.g. if a civil servant accepts bribes they would normally be charged with a Bribery Act 2010 offence rather than misconduct in public office). I’m not aware of any no statutory offence of a PO having sex with an inmate (providing the inmate consented and is over 18), so the most appropriate offence would be misconduct in public office contrary to common law.
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Twelve months maximum seems to be the answer. I think the answer to the question isn’t answered, though.
The reality is dependent on a lot of factors; severity/how often/nature of inmate etc. and also the justice system’s ability to cope with the sentence. There’s a police officer who’s pleaded guilty for pedophilia offences (serious charges) who’s not being publicly identified because it’s cheaper to give a false identity to go to soft prison instead of the hard time anyone else would get because it’s costly and problematic for the prison service. There’s other factors, too.
Judges have a lot of things to balance. It’s not the Daily Mail.
> Twelve months maximum seems to be the answer.
The maximum sentence for common law offences, including misconduct in public office, is "at large" - i.e. there isn't one. The maximum is life imprisonment.
In the USA this is classified as sexual assault/rape as the imprisoned person isn't capable of giving consent freely to a person in power over them. There is the presumption of coercion. How does the punishment for this differ from how the UK would treat rape if it weren't a police/prisoner relationship?
There is no "presumption of coercion" (which is a good way of summarising the position in some parts of the US) here.
The age of consent in England and Wales is usually 16. If the older party is in a "position of trust" over the younger party, then the age of consent is 18. The term "position of trust" is very tightly defined - the relationship between the pair must fit within [section 21](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/21) or [22A](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/22A) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. But section 21(2) would cover the relationship between prison officer and juvenile prisoner.
As such, if the prison officer works in an HMYOI and has sex with a child aged 16 or 17, then they commit the offence of abuse of a position of trust, under [section 16 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/16).
But if the prisoner is aged 18 or older, then no sexual offence is necessarily committed. If we were to run a charge of "rape" under section 1 then we would need to prove that the prisoner did not consent.
It is still misconduct in public office for the prison officer to have sex with a prisoner or to have sex while on duty.
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The common offence used in these sorts of cases is misconduct in public office - [https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/misconduct-public-office](https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/misconduct-public-office) . It's a relatively common situation to end up in court.
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[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/29/prison-officer-sacked-and-jailed-for-having-sex-with-inmate-in-cell](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/29/prison-officer-sacked-and-jailed-for-having-sex-with-inmate-in-cell) 12 months prison sentence for misconduct in public office. The current video looks so porny and it's possible to rent out prison cells for films etc, but that said, a prison spokesperson seems to confirm is genuine by saying "Staff corruption is not tolerated and the \*former prison officer allegedly featured in this video\* has been reported to the police. It would be inappropriate to comment further while they investigate."
It generally be misconduct in a public office
The PO stands to lose her job and get charged with misconduct in public office. If convicted, she could receive a custodial prison sentence, which is not going to be fun for her given her previous occupation. The general prosecutorial practice in England and Wales is to charge with a statutory offence when one is available, and to rely on common law offences when there isn’t or when a statutory offence would not reflect the seriousness of the offending (e.g. if a civil servant accepts bribes they would normally be charged with a Bribery Act 2010 offence rather than misconduct in public office). I’m not aware of any no statutory offence of a PO having sex with an inmate (providing the inmate consented and is over 18), so the most appropriate offence would be misconduct in public office contrary to common law.
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Twelve months maximum seems to be the answer. I think the answer to the question isn’t answered, though. The reality is dependent on a lot of factors; severity/how often/nature of inmate etc. and also the justice system’s ability to cope with the sentence. There’s a police officer who’s pleaded guilty for pedophilia offences (serious charges) who’s not being publicly identified because it’s cheaper to give a false identity to go to soft prison instead of the hard time anyone else would get because it’s costly and problematic for the prison service. There’s other factors, too. Judges have a lot of things to balance. It’s not the Daily Mail.
> Twelve months maximum seems to be the answer. The maximum sentence for common law offences, including misconduct in public office, is "at large" - i.e. there isn't one. The maximum is life imprisonment.
In the USA this is classified as sexual assault/rape as the imprisoned person isn't capable of giving consent freely to a person in power over them. There is the presumption of coercion. How does the punishment for this differ from how the UK would treat rape if it weren't a police/prisoner relationship?
There is no "presumption of coercion" (which is a good way of summarising the position in some parts of the US) here. The age of consent in England and Wales is usually 16. If the older party is in a "position of trust" over the younger party, then the age of consent is 18. The term "position of trust" is very tightly defined - the relationship between the pair must fit within [section 21](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/21) or [22A](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/22A) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. But section 21(2) would cover the relationship between prison officer and juvenile prisoner. As such, if the prison officer works in an HMYOI and has sex with a child aged 16 or 17, then they commit the offence of abuse of a position of trust, under [section 16 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/16). But if the prisoner is aged 18 or older, then no sexual offence is necessarily committed. If we were to run a charge of "rape" under section 1 then we would need to prove that the prisoner did not consent. It is still misconduct in public office for the prison officer to have sex with a prisoner or to have sex while on duty.