It’s a story so wild as to be almost unbelievable. Kerri Pegg was a ‘rising star’ of the prison service, promoted to governor at the open jail HMP Kirkham just six years after joining as a graduate trainee. And yet she was also in a relationship with a prisoner, Anthony Saunderson, serving ten years for drug offences.
Saunderson was an inmate at Kirkham, and Pegg was ‘known to spend a lot of time in her office’ with him. Then, in October 2018, she broke prison rules to approve Saunderson’s release on temporary licence (ROTL). It seems that Saunderson was very grateful, gifting Pegg a Mercedes car. Despite Pegg claiming she had done nothing wrong, when police searched the governor’s home, they found a toothbrush and flip-flops with Saunderson’s DNA on it.
It’s very rare for a prison governor to face justice, no matter what they’ve done
Today the former prison governor was found guilty on two counts of misconduct in public office. She will almost certainly be sent to prison when she is sentenced. But is this case really that unusual?
Pegg acknowledged in court that she had been ‘stupid’ in her relationship with Saunderson, an argument echoed by Barbara-Louise Webster, the prosecution barrister, who remarked that Pegg had a promising future but that ‘Anthony Saunderson was her downfall’. Pegg joined the prison service in 2012, on a graduate fast track, which sped her through the ‘wing officer’ roles. I knew a governor at Wandsworth who’d been promoted just as quickly. Both staff and prisoners agreed she was useless. There’s something to be said for spending time in more junior roles in order to really understand how prisons, inmates and staff operate.
Corruption is rarely a simple matter of a bribe in exchange for an illegal act. Experienced manipulators will identify the most effective levers to use for each person they seek to corrupt. In many cases the desire to help, to change lives for the better, has been twisted to criminal ends. Perhaps something like this happened here. Saunderson had developed a drug- and alcohol-dependency programme called BADD, which he delivered at several jails. Perhaps Pegg found his apparent sense of purpose appealing.
Whatever the reason, she has destroyed her career and will spend time in prison. But it’s very rare for a prison governor to face justice, no matter what they’ve done. Frontline prison staff have said to me that ‘it’s one rule for us and another for them’. I understand that even people within the Prison Officers’ Association, the union for frontline jail staff, believe that reaching governor grade protects staff who commit misconduct.
We saw this in the case of Bobby Cunningham, deputy governor at HMP Wandsworth, and head of its security department in the weeks before Daniel Khalife’s high-profile escape in 2023. Cunningham broke prison rules to send at least one prisoner to the relative comfort and freedom of HMP Kirkham. He was suspended and ultimately dismissed on unrelated grounds. Two years later, no police action or prosecution appears to have taken place. Prison staff are supposed to pass an assessment before being eligible for governor roles. I understand that Cunningham never passed this assessment and was instead appointed on an ‘interim’ basis.
I know of a governor who ran a ‘private wing’ in a closed prison. Every inmate housed there was involved in serious organised crime. A security sweep found a shopping bag full of iPhones and even rosé wine. That governor was moved on, and still works in the prison service.
Professor Ian Acheson, a former prison governor said:
Pegg’s reckless behaviour didn’t emerge from nowhere. It’s clear from the trial that she was a person who felt entitled to bend security rules. She had a meteoric rise within HM Prison Service. It seems inconceivable that no-one responsible for her management and career development noticed anything amiss. She has led the service already awash with sex scandals into further disrepute.
The Ministry of Justice insists that it has a robust assessment and vetting process, and that staff have to renew their vetting ‘at a minimum of every ten years and on changing roles’. It doesn’t seem to be enough. The problem may simply be that there aren’t enough good candidates to choose from.
James Timpson, the prisons minister, acknowledged this last week when he spoke before the Lords Justice Select Committee. As he said:
I do not think that there are enough future governors coming through, which is a real challenge for us. Succession planning is something that I am addressing rapidly with the organisation.
Timpson is right. If he doesn’t address this issue, we will continue to see governors appointed who are not ready, or not fit for the role. As Acheson says, ‘Governors have immense discretionary power exercised behind high walls. Are we confident these powers are being used properly?’
Kerri Pegg’s case demonstrates the harm which can already be done when the wrong people are appointed, and the forthcoming Sentencing Review makes this risk even greater. If, as expected, David Gauke recommends a ‘Texas model’ under which ‘good prisoners’ can earn very early release, then a corrupt governor could speed criminals through their sentences. The government needs to make sure its counter-corruption efforts are focused on those staff who are doing the greatest harm.
Comments