A prison officer has been jailed for eight months after engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a drug dealer who styled himself as the "Latvian Pablo Escobar".

Jahvine Kwamba, 21, was working at HMP Fosse Way in Leicestershire when she began a relationship with prisoner Roberts Sokolovs. Leicester Crown Court heard that Kwamba initiated contact with Sokolovs 1,367 times while he was held at the category C prison between 24 February and 3 June 2024.

Sokolovs, who was imprisoned in 2022 for his involvement in the "Jimmy Line" county lines drug ring operating between Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Lincoln, was later transferred to an immigration removal centre at Gatwick Airport in June 2024. Prosecution counsel Rawaid Javed told the court that sexually explicit photographs and messages were exchanged between the pair on Snapchat after this transfer.

The court heard that there were 5,441 contacts between Kwamba and Sokolovs on Snapchat while he was at HMP Fosse Way, and a further 4,211 contacts while he was at the removal centre.

Kwamba denies any physical sexual contact, a claim the prosecution stated it was "sceptical" about. Sokolovs was deported to Latvia in November 2024 and was never interviewed regarding the relationship.

Kwamba, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was arrested in July 2024 and had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office.

The court also heard details of financial transactions. Kwamba received five payments totalling £1,495 from Sokolovs’s mother, Zita Sokolova, 53, between 18 March and 2 July 2024. Additionally, 18 payments totalling £4,665 were sent to her by his 20-year-old sister, Venera Sokolova, during the same period.

Kwamba, in turn, sent seven payments totalling £660 to Sokolovs’s sister between 27 March and 1 July 2024. Mr Javed noted there were "no obvious patterns" to these transactions, and Kwamba spent an initial £500 payment from Zita Sokolova on food and clothing.

Sam Ponniah, defending Kwamba, who was 19 at the time of the offences, argued she had shown "significant levels of naivety and immaturity" and had been "well in over her head". He highlighted that she had been a prison officer for only four months and was in charge of 64 prisoners, away from home in an unfamiliar area.

Mr Ponniah stated: "She has real and substantiated remorse for her actions, it is clear from her letter that one of the things that weighs heavily on her is ruining a job she thought she was doing well at… she knows she has thrown that all away." Kwamba now works at a car rental company.

Sokolovs’s mother and sister, both from Skelmersdale, also faced charges. They had 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. The hearing revealed Venera Sokolova contacted her brother 191 times while he was in prison, and his mother 33 times.

In a voluntary police interview in November 2024, Zita Sokolova admitted sending her son money in prison and said her son told her Kwamba was going to "help him". Venera Sokolova stated she knew Kwamba as her brother’s girlfriend but was unaware she was a prison officer, having been asked by her brother to contact her.

Jonathan Dunne, defending the Sokolovas, argued that "when women of good character come before the courts, there is invariably a man behind it."

He maintained they did not realise Kwamba was a prison officer, believing her to be merely his girlfriend. Mr Dunne added: "If one looks at the reality, (Roberts Sokolovs) is a county lines drug dealer and the women are being told to send money in. It won’t be the first time women have done things men have asked them to do out of a sense of loyalty, a sense of fear."

Zita Sokolova received a four-month prison sentence, suspended for one year, and was ordered to pay £400 costs. Venera Sokolova was given a 12-month community order with a requirement to attend 15 probation appointments.

Addressing all three defendants, 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."

Sentencing Kwamba, who covered her face upon entering court, the judge noted her extensive training and the importance of maintaining integrity. He said: "You knew from the start that any money at all, let alone over £6,000, was exposing you to the same sort of risk I identified and that the transfer of any amount was utterly wrong."

Judge Spencer suspected Kwamba was "pretty lonely and vulnerable", adding: "You were easy prey and easy pickings for Roberts, who obviously decided he could exploit you." He concluded that it was a "tragedy you have thrown it all away."

To the Sokolovas, Judge Spencer warned: "If you ever had any illusions about how serious this is, those illusions have been dispelled today. What you did was extremely serious. Allowing illicit phone contact with a prisoner is fundamentally wrong. You must have known you were contributing to that but you will both go home tonight. You could not have come closer to following (Kwamba) through the door."

He added that Zita, being older, "should have known better," while Venera, who was very young at the time, had "done a lot of growing up" and should not waste this chance.