Prisoner sex claims are "fantasy" says Minister

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Claims that drugs baron Curtis Warren had an affair with a drugs counsellor while he was locked up at La Moye have been dismissed as “fantasy” by the minister in charge of the prison.

The story – which initially appeared in the Mail on Sunday last weekend – quoted former prison drugs counsellor Teresa Rodrigues saying that she had a two-year affair with the drugs dealer. Her account was picked up by the local press, and an urgent question was raised in the States over whether safeguards had been put in place to prevent similar situations in future.

But Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand said he did not believe the story, and pointed out that Warren himself had denied it. He said that as a “high security risk” prisoner, Warren was monitored closely by prison officers all the time.

“It is in the view of the Prison Governor and myself hard to believe, and has been strongly denied by the prisoner concerned,” Senator Le Marquand told the States yesterday.

He also declined to request an inquiry from the prison authorities, saying: “Frankly, I would think the allegations are very much in the area of fantasy and I do not really think there is any point in wasting public money on something that appears to be fantastic.”

In response to follow-up questions from Deputy Montfort Tadier, Senator Le Marquand said that drugs counselling sessions did not take place in prisoners’ cells – although they had done for a period up until 2010, but never while the cell doors were locked. He also said that Miss Rodrigues had resigned her post in 2010.