Ryan Aaron Isemonger: Chef ‘intimidated’ into prison smuggling plot

One phone call was all it took for police to uncover an “insidious” plot to intimidate a prison chef and pressure him to sneak drugs into an Ipswich prison.

File photo of a Queensland prison officer at Marybrough Correctional Centre.

A prison chef has been sentenced after he was intimated into participating in an “insidious” plot to sneak drugs into an Ipswich prison.

Chef Ryan Aaron Isemonger, 42, faced the Ipswich District Court on Friday, November 18, where he pleaded guilty to supplying a dangerous drug in a correctional facility and possessing cash obtained from the supply.

The court heard police pounced on Isemonger as he attended work at an unnamed Ipswich prison on February 11 — the day he was expected to be smuggling drugs and syringes.

Officers expected to find Buprenorphine — a prescription opioid “widely available” inside prisons used as a substitute for other drugs — but he was clean.

He voluntarily told officers he’d agreed to bring the drug into the prison at the behest of an inmate he wouldn’t name but got “cold feet”.

Instead he led police to the drugs and a $3400 payment stashed at his Springfield Lakes home.

Defence barrister Martin Longhurst said his client, a man who had no previous criminal convictions, deeply regretted the “one week whirlwind”.

“He knew he shouldn’t have agreed to it but he felt vulnerable,” he said.

“He didn’t know what they were capable of.”

Mr Longhurst detailed how his client was intimidated into joining the plot and “deeply regretted” his decision.

The court heard the plot was uncovered after the unnamed inmate was recorded on a prison phone call arranging someone on the outside to bring the drugs and cash to Isemonger.

The court heard that despite the chef declining to name the inmate out of fear for his safety, they were easily identified on the phone call.

Sentencing Isemonger, Judge Dennis Lynch KC said that although the plot didn’t end up circulating drugs in the prison, the courts took the offending seriously.

“It has the effect of undermining authority in the prison system,” he said.

“One of the purposes of ordering a term of imprisonment is to attempt to assist the rehabilitation of drug offenders.

“This is undermined if drugs are freely available inside the prison system.”

He said it was clear the offending was “completely out of character” for the chef, and he expected Isemonger to return to being a contributing member of the community.

Isemonger was sentenced to a year-long term of imprisonment completely suspended for a period of 12 months.

“Clearly you were prevailed upon by a prisoner and succumbed to the pressure,” Judge Lynch said.

“What happens next is, in effect, your future is in your own hands.”