Prison officer sent explicit photos to 'the Latvian Escobar'

A prison officer who sent sexually explicit photos on Snapchat to a drug dealer who styled himself as the "Latvian Pablo Escobar" has been jailed for eight months.

Jahvine Kwamba, 21, was working at HMP Fosse Way in Leicestershire when she began a relationship with prisoner Roberts Sokolovs in 2024, Leicester Crown Court heard.

Kwamba, of Old Hall Crescent, Bentley, Doncaster, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of misconduct in judicial or public office, and a charge of transmitting an image and sound from prison without authority.

Sentencing Kwamba on Friday, Judge Timothy Spencer KC said he suspected Kwamba was "pretty lonely and vulnerable", adding "you were easy prey" for Sokolovs.

Sokolovs was imprisoned for drug-related matters in 2022 due to his involvement in a County Lines drug ring called the Jimmy Line, between Skelmersdale in Lancashire and Lincoln.

Prosecutor Rawaid Javed said sexually explicit photographs and messages were sent between the pair on Snapchat after Sokolovs was sent to an immigration removal centre at Gatwick Airport in June 2024.

The court was told because he was deported to Latvia in November that year, Sokolovs was never interviewed about his relationship with Kwamba.

While at HMP Fosse Way, there were 5,441 contacts with each other on Snapchat, and 4,211 contacts between them while Sokolovs was at the removal centre.

Kwamba denies there was any physical sexual contact between the pair, which the prosecutor said he was "sceptical" about.

The 21-year-old also received five payments from Sokolovs's mother Zita Sokolova, 53, totalling £1,495 between 18 March and 2 July 2024, while 18 payments totalling £4,665 were sent to her in the same period by his 20-year-old sister Venera Sokolova.

Kwamba sent seven payments, totalling £660, to his sister between 27 March and 1 July 2024.

Javed said there were "no obvious patterns" to the transactions, and when Kwamba first received a payment of £500 from Zita Sokolova in March 2024, she spent it on food and clothing and did not transfer it.

Sam Ponniah, defending Kwamba, who was 19 at the time of the offences, said she had shown "significant levels of naivety and immaturity".

He added she had been "well in over her head" when she was put in charge of 64 prisoners despite being a prison officer for about four months.

"She speaks about the fact when she first got this job, being away from home, she was in an area she was unfamiliar with and living by herself," Ponniah added.

Venera Sokolova was in contact with her brother while he was in prison 191 times, while his mother Zita Sokolova was in contact with him 33 times.

Venera and Zita, both from Alderley, Skelmersdale, Lancashire, previously pleaded guilty to transmitting or causing the transmission of an image by electronic communications from inside HMP Fosse Way between 24 February and 3 June 2024.

Zita Sokolova was given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for one year, and ordered to pay £400 costs.

Venera Sokolova was given a 12-month community order with a requirement to attend 15 probation appointments.

Judge Timothy Spencer KC said: "This case strikes at the heart of any functioning criminal justice system, including a functioning prison system, where those running a prison can have some confidence that discipline and good order is maintained and not continually undermined.

"You, in your different ways, have all contributed to the undermining of that system of law and order and each of you have struck at the heart of the maintenance of law and order in this country."

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