A former correctional officer who had a sexual relationship with a male inmate and brought him drugs has escaped serving time in prison despite prosecutors calling for her sentence to send a message to those who hold similar positions of power.
Amber Clavell, 25, was in an intimate relationship with convicted armed robber Mark Kennedy, an inmate at the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre.
In April, while working in the prison’s intensive drug and alcohol treatment as a program and services officer, she smuggled into the prison 33 grams of crystalline methylamphetamine in balloons stored in her bra and a pouch of tobacco at Kennedy’s request.
Former correctional officer Amber Clavell at court.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Appearing before magistrate Stephen Corry in Penrith court on Wednesday morning, the mother-of-two was sentenced to an aggregate sentence of two years and three months to be served as an intensive community corrections order alongside 200 hours of community service.
Clavell pleaded guilty to six charges, including accessing or modifying restricted data to look up information about Kennedy; misconducting herself in public office; engaging in an intimate relationship with an inmate causing risk to safety; and three charges relating to smuggling tobacco and meth.
She was caught alongside colleague Jessica Elguindy, who was sentenced in July to a 12-month community correction order for an intimate relationship with a different inmate, and accessing restricted data.
Mark Kennedy was in jail for armed robbery.
The pair had texted each other about their relationships, with Clavell telling Elguindy that Kennedy had behaved in a “caring” manner when the pair discussed terminating a suspected pregnancy. Their relationship began in January this year.
In sentencing, Corry noted Clavell didn’t have a previous criminal history, that a forensic psychologist found she was “emotionally vulnerable” when developing an intimate relationship with Kennedy, and she hadn’t been adequately trained for her role.
The court heard Clavell had been given a manual to read, told to learn on the job and “fake it till [she] makes it”.
“Her lack of professional qualifications and training was a major contributing factor to her offending … She was thrown in the deep end and told to kick [her] legs and swim,” Corry said.
Corry also took into account Clavell’s remorse and a letter she wrote to the court expressing her “disgust and disappointment” for her behaviour.
“She knew it was wrong and that it was seriously wrong. There was an abuse of trust,” he said.
Clavell’s lawyer Brendan Green said in a September presentencing hearing that it was hard to imagine how sending someone with no prior convictions into a custodial environment “would benefit public safety”, especially as she was the main carer for her two children aged four and three.
Prosecutor Craig Pullen argued her sentencing needed to send a message to others in similar positions of power.
“A fundamental message must be sent not only to the accused, but to the community and other persons that hold similar positions … [she was] entrusted into one of the most important positions by way of persons who go into custody,” he said.
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