Scandal at HMP Coldingley and Swaleside
A former prison officer, Isabelle Dale, 23, has been locked up for three and a half years after getting involved in scandalous relationships with inmates and masterminding a drugs smuggling ring behind bars.
Dale worked at HMP Coldingley, where she formed inappropriate sexual relationships with two prisoners. One was Shahid Sharif, 34, serving time for robbery. Shockingly, just eight months after starting as a prison officer, Dale and Sharif were engaged.
Drugs crime ring exposed
Even after Sharif was transferred to HMP Swaleside, Dale kept visiting him and sent money through the prison system. Between September 2021 and December 2022, Dale teamed up with Sharif and another woman, Lilea Sallis, 28, to smuggle synthetic cannabinoids, known as Spice, into Swaleside.
The trio’s conspiracy to bring Class A drugs behind bars didn’t go unnoticed. Sharif and Sallis were handed jail terms of two years and three months and two years and six months, respectively.
Crackdown by authorities
The convictions followed a joint probe by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit’s Prison Intelligence Team and the HM Prisons and Probation Service’s Counter Corruption Unit.
After her arrest in November 2022, Dale immediately quit her prison job. Last Tuesday (20/2), Southwark Crown Court sentenced her to 3 years 6 months for misconduct in public office and conspiring to smuggle a List A article into prison.
In brief:
- Isabelle Dale was jailed for 3½ years
- Engaged with inmate Shahid Sharif while on duty
- Smuggled Spice into HMP Swaleside
- Sharif and Lilea Sallis were also imprisoned
- Probe conducted by SEROCU and HMPPS units
