A 20-year-old former prison officer has been handed a three-year jail sentence over her relationship with an inmate at HMP Five Wells that involved exchanging thousands of messages and the supply of drugs.
Alicia Novas was just 18 when she began working at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire in July 2024. Within six months she had been arrested after the discovery of a mobile phone in the cell of inmate Declan Winkless linked the pair.
Further investigations found Novas had also smuggled cannabis, tobacco and two mobile phones into the prison for Winkless, who was serving an 11-year sentence for aggravated burglary at the time.
A judge at Northampton Crown Court heard that there had been a total of 2,873 messages, calls and video calls between Novas and Winkless between August 2024 and March last year. The pair continuted to exchange messages following Novas’ arrest, despite her bail terms.
Novas, of Holdenby Drive, Raunds, Northamptonshire, pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in public office, two communications offences under the Prison Act 1952, and two counts of bringing prohibited articles into a prison.
Yesterday she was handed a three-year prison sentence, of which she is expected to serve half.
Winkless, aged 31, formerly of Kirkdale Road, South Wigston, Leicestershire, pleaded guilty to six counts similar to those faced by Novas and a seventh charge of possessing a proscribed item inside a prison under the Prison Act 1952. He was sentenced to three years and four months in jail, which will be added to his current sentence.
After the sentencing, Detective Inspector Richard Cornell, from the East Midlands Regional Prisons Intelligence Unit, said the jail terms reflected the “gravity” of the offences committed.
He said that although Novas had only just begun her career as a prison officer when her offending began, she would have received training that “strongly emphasised the honesty, integrity and professionalism expected of someone in such a position of authority”.
“Unfortunately, Novas used her position to form an inappropriate relationship with Winkless and to breach public trust and confidence further by illegally passing on information and smuggling drugs and mobile phones to him,” he said.
“Winkless undoubtedly encouraged this relationship and the unprofessional and illegal conduct carried out by Novas, and this is reflected in the charges he also faced and the sentence he has now received, added to the lengthy prison term he is already serving for aggravated burglary.”
Cornell also thanked counter-corruption staff at HM Prisons and Probation Service and at G4S, which operates HMP Five Wells.
Northampton Crown Court heard that Novas had resigned her post at Five Wells days after her initial arrest in 2024.
Separately, another female former prison officer was jailed last week after admitting forming inappropriate relationships with inmates and conspiring to smuggle drugs into a prison.
Isabelle Dale, aged 23, of Victoria Road South, Portsmouth, was sentenced to three and a half years’ imprisonment for two counts of misconduct in public office and one count of conspiracy to bring a “list A” article into prison, contrary to the Prison Act 1952.
Southwark Crown Court heard that while she was working as a prison officer at HMP Coldingley, in Surrey, Dale had formed inappropriate sexual relationships with two male prisoners. Within eight months of joining the prison service she had become engaged to one of those prisoners.
She was also involved in a conspiracy to smuggle synthetic cannabinoids – known as “spice” – into HMP Swaleside in Kent.
Dale resigned from the prison service following her arrest in November 2022.