Prison officer who kissed inmate, sent him explicit pictures and smuggled cannabis into jail for him weeps as she's locked up

A prison officer who started an inappropriate relationship with an inmate and smuggled cannabis into jail for him has been locked up. Joanne Hunter was working at Forest Bank prison in Salford when she brought the drug into the jail hidden in a juice carton and a Red Bull can.

She handed over the packages to a ‘big player’ inmate in the prison before they were passed on to Connor Willis, who she 'thought was in love with her'. Hunter, 28, from Bury, had begun a relationship with Willis, kissing him and sending him explicit pictures of herself, but denied that it ever became sexual.

She also admitted sharing ‘flirty banter’ with another inmate. Prison authorities became aware of Hunter’s crimes and she confessed after being confronted.

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It represents an extraordinary fall from grace for ‘highly educated’ Hunter, who gained a Masters degree before beginning a job as a prison officer, her first work after completing her studies. A judge described it as a ‘tragic’ case before locking her up for three years, hitting out at her 'selfish and misguided' behaviour.

She wept and blew a kiss to her family before she was sent down to start her sentence. Manchester Crown Court heard that Hunter began working at the jail in December 2018. Two years later, prison bosses ‘received information’ that she had been smuggling illicit items into the jail, and she was hauled in for a disciplinary interview.

Hunter admitted that she’d smuggled items into the prison on behalf of an inmate named Connor Willis. She told prison bosses: “Someone from the out gave it to me to bring in for Cox and Connor Willis.”

The M.E.N. understands ‘Cox’ is Craig Cox,