A couple from Stockport have pleaded guilty to their involvement in a smuggling gang which supplied drugs to prison inmates.
The gang also included a female prison officer who was working at the prison at the time, and who has been jailed for two years for her involvement.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how prison officer Rio Moran, 30, of Godfrey Place, Halifax, was arrested when she turned up for work at HMP Doncaster in November 2020.
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When raiding her Halifax home, officers from South Yorkshire Police's Prison Anti-Corruption Unit found a large amount of drugs and phones in the property.
While conducting the search, Callum Reilly, 30, turned up and tried to post further contraband through the front door, which was bound for Moran’s prison.
Inmate James Millington, 31, was later identified as being the recipient of the items and was later arrested.
His partner, Claire Anderson, 32, of Hazelwood Road, Stockport, was found to have assisted with the conspiracy.
She was arrested at her home, where drugs and phones suspected to be bound for prison were also found.
All four defendants previously admitted their roles in the conspiracy at Sheffield Crown Court in September last year.
All but Anderson were sentenced on Monday (February 28).
Moran, of Godfrey Place, Halifax, pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply class B drugs into prison, conspiring to convey list B articles into prison and money laundering.
She was jailed for two years.
Millington, 31, of HMP Leeds, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class B and C drugs into prison between 2017 and 2020, conspiring to supply class B drugs into prison and conspiring to convey list B articles into prison.
He was jailed for seven years and nine months.
Reilly was sentenced to 12 months behind bars after pleading guilty to supplying a class B drug to Claire Anderson, conspiring to convey list B articles into prison and money laundering.
Anderson pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of Class B and C drugs into prison between 2017 and 2020, conspiring to supply Class B drugs into prison and conspiring to convey List B articles into prison.
Her sentencing has been adjourned until March 25.
Detective Constable Scott Jarvis said after sentencing: “Our prisons are staffed predominantly with hard working officers who go about their business professionally despite the risks to themselves and colleagues on a daily basis.
“For the majority of staff, their number one aim is the safeguarding of inmates and colleagues, and to support the rehabilitation of those inmates.
"Any officers that fall outside of that and commit crime will be dealt with robustly along with any members of the public assisting that criminality.”
Detective Sergeant Gareth Gent, who led the investigation, added: “This is an example of the hard work and processes developed in conjunction with our prisons to allow us to quickly identify corruption and effectively deal with those responsible.
“South Yorkshire Police are committed to supporting our prison establishments.”
John Hewitson, Serco Prison Director at HMP Doncaster, said: “We expect the highest standards of behaviour from everyone who works in the prison and the vast majority of our people meet those standards, but this individual fell well short of what is expected.
“Serco has a zero tolerance approach to people breaking the law and we worked closely with the police on this operation to arrest them.
"There is no scenario where we will ever accept people bringing contraband into a secure prison establishment and we will continue to work with local police authorities to eradicate this type of risk.”
