HMP Marshgate Doncaster: Prison manager left post to have trysts with inmate including six-hour stint in cell

A Rotherham woman has gone from working as a prison manager to a stint behind bars as a prisoner, after she admitted to having an inappropriate, and sexual, relationship with an inmate. 

34-year-old Lauren Miller - whose baby is due in July - is set to spend the remaining months of her pregnancy in prison, after she was jailed for misconduct in a public office on Thursday, April 25.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how during the course of their three-month relationship while she was a custody manager at HMP Marshgate in Doncaster, Miller gave the inmate, with whom she was in a sexual relationship, preferential treatment in a number of ways. This included the use of a service lift, allowing him to stay with her and remain out of his cell while the prison was in lockdown and spending time alone with him in a ‘store room’. 

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC condemned Miller for her ‘truly deplorable and shameful,’ ‘grotesque and inappropriate’ conduct.  

“You brought shame - not only upon yourself - but on the prison service. You are a disgrace,” Judge Richarsdon told Miller, of May Close, Thurnscoe, Rotherham.

Prosecutor Ian Goldsack said Miller first started working as a prison officer in April 2021, and that the ‘staff on the wing for whom she had responsibility’ first began to notice that she had grown ‘close’ to an inmate on the wing in the early part of 2023.

Those concerns began to grow after Miller was promoted to the role of custody manager in March 2023, the court heard.

Mr Goldsack continued: “She was seen to spend periods of time in his cell, regularly take the service lift with him and generally provided him with privileges not afforded to others.”

After Miller became aware that she ‘was the subject of rumours,’ Mr Goldsack said she called at least two members of staff into her office, with one recalling that she ‘shouted and screamed in an aggressive manner’ before attempting to manipulate them and persuade them not to report her, the court heard. 

The prison’s assistant director also began to have concerns about Miller’s conduct after encountering her and the inmate in a lift in April 2023, while the prison was subject to a ‘full lockdown,’ requiring all inmates to remain in their cell.

Mr Goldsack described how as time went on, Miller began to request more overtime on the wing where the inmate was based, and also turned down another promotion at a different Doncaster prison.  

Miller ultimately resigned from the prison on May 9, 2023, but her last day of work was on May 5, when she spent six hours with the inmate inside his cell, the court heard. 

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“His cellmate could be seen wandering around on the wing, he obviously wasn’t welcome in that cell,” Mr Goldsack said, adding: “When she emerged she was crying…and she was in fact consoled by colleagues who saw her in that state.

Miller attempted to continue her relationship with the inmate following her sudden departure from the prison, making what Judge Richardson described as ‘sexually charged calls’ to him under the pseudonym ‘Natasha Shepherd’. 

Explicit cards and letters she sent to the inmate were also recovered from his cell, after their sexual relationship was exposed. 

Miller, who had a clean criminal criminal record prior to this conduct, was subsequently charged with, and pleaded guilty to, an offence of misconduct in a public office. 

The court heard that Miller initially entered a basis of plea, in which she claimed that she had refrained from engaging in sexual activity with the inmate; but Miller’s legal counsel, Michael Cane-Soothill said Miller now accepts she had a sexual relationship with the inmate. 

In a statement to the court, HMP Marshgate deputy director Rachel Barras said the type of conduct carried out by Miller undermines the good work carried out by respected and professional staff members, and ‘brings shame on the service’.

She also detailed the consequences of such conduct on both inmates and prison officers, which, she said, can result in violence, bullying and consequences that can extend far beyond the prison’s four walls, affecting the families and associates of those involved.

Ms Barras also said Miller had used the responsibility she was ‘entrusted’ with to treat the inmate, with whom she was in a relationship, differently; and also ‘left her post’ to ‘take him to the store room’. 

In mitigation, Mr Cane-Soothill said Miller’s pregnancy, which follows her entering into a relationship with a new partner, has been a difficult one - resulting in numerous hospital visits - most recently on Saturday (April 20). 

Mr Cane-Soothill said Miller had been subject to a ‘perfect storm’ of tragedies and circumstance in the run-up to the offending taking place, including the deaths of her mother and a close friend, the break-down of her marriage, being subjected to an alleged assault involving hot water while working at the prison, as well as another reported attack that she felt had not been sufficiently dealt with. 

The conclusions of a psychiatric report prepared on Miller’s behalf stated that she was dealing with a number of stresses, which were compounded by her ‘innate vulnerabilities,’ and meant she ‘sought companionship’ in what she regarded as a ‘hostile environment,’ Mr Cane-Soothill told the court.

Judge Richardson said he had given the ‘anxious and difficult’ question of whether Miller should receive an immediate prison sentence much consideration, especially given her medical needs surrounding her difficult pregnancy and the treatment a former prison officer is likely to receive; but ultimately had concluded that she must be sent to prison.

Jailing her for nine months, Judge Richardson said: “Your criminality is far too serious to warrant anything other than immediate custody.”

He continued: “Any prison officer who has a sexual relationship with a prisoner commits a serious offence - misconduct in a public office. The good order and discipline of the prison is materially undermined by such conduct. This is exacerbated when the conduct is prolonged; and worst still, when it is perpetrated by an officer in a managerial or senior role.”

A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said the force was unable to provide a custody image of Miller because she ‘came in voluntarily for interview’.