Episode 1

After a three-minute video featuring a female prison officer and an inmate having sex inside HMP Wandsworth goes viral, award-winning journalist Mobeen Azhar begins an investigation into what happened and why. A year of twists, turns and damning revelations pulls back the curtain on a dangerous wider world of coercion, corruption and contraband thriving behind bars.

Beginning his investigation outside HMP Wandsworth, the prison where the viral video of prison officer Linda De Sousa Abreu was filmed, Mobeen speaks to one of her former colleagues, who suggests making the video was a bid for online attention. But surely nobody would break the law just for internet fame?

Mobeen traces the clip back to the first person who posted it publicly, a former prisoner turned podcaster known as Young Spray. While Spray remains tight-lipped about his source, he reveals that he got the clip from an inmate who told him to post it. Still, the big question remains: why did Linda allow the act to be filmed?

Digging deeper into Linda’s history, Mobeen discovers that the viral clip wasn’t her first explicit on-camera moment. She previously appeared in a television documentary about open relationships, engaging in group sex on national TV. Meanwhile, there is speculation online that the viral video was intended to drive people to Linda’s OnlyFans account.

An anonymous ‘friend’ called Hayley is quoted in the press saying that some prisoners got hold of Linda’s personal information, her address, husband’s name and OnlyFans account. Hayley claims Linda was put under a lot of pressure and that coercion was involved. Mobeen is left wondering: is Linda a savvy self-promoter or a victim?

An anonymous HMP Wandsworth officer, who says he knew Linda, opens Mobeen’s eyes to a world of blackmail and coercion behind the prison walls. He claims that inmates offer thousands of pounds for contraband and try to intimidate guards. He recalls being offered £1,000 to bring in KFC. As tempting as it sounds, he warns that the moment you give in, they can blackmail you. Taking this new information on board, Mobeen begins to question if the viral video that Linda appeared in could be evidence of something much bigger.

Unable to speak to Linda or the other people in the video, Mobeen hits the road in search of former officers willing to share their own experiences of illicit guard-inmate relationships. After a nationwide search and countless calls, Mobeen finds that nobody will go on camera; shame and embarrassment are preventing people from speaking openly.

Eventually, a former officer turned university lecturer agrees to talk. Sinem didn’t have a relationship with an inmate, but she was jailed for smuggling drugs. With mounting debt and close to losing her home, Sinem describes to Mobeen the moment she agreed to an inmate's request to bring in contraband.

To understand how inmates weaponise intimacy and relationships with prison staff, Mobeen speaks to a former prisoner with a history of corrupting officers. He explains how he grooms vulnerable staff into believing they’re in romantic relationships just to get them to bring in drugs.

Nearly six months after the clip went viral, Linda is sentenced to 15 months in prison. In court, the judge discloses she has borderline personality disorder, making her impulsive, reckless and susceptible to blackmail. The judge also refers to a psychiatrist's report in which Linda says it felt like she was groomed by the inmate.

As Linda begins her sentence, Mobeen meets a former officer who smuggled drugs, bought a house and a car with the money, and was never caught. She’s just had a baby with the prisoner she helped.

Just as Mobeen thinks his investigation is winding down, a new revelation lands - one that will ultimately drag him even deeper into a hidden world of crime and corruption that goes beyond the prison walls.