A prison psychologist who formed an intimate relationship with a HMP Isle of Wight prisoner and sent him topless photographs has been cleared to return to work after being suspended for serious professional misconduct.
Lisa Forgione was handed a 9-month suspension by the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) in December 2025 after a lengthy fitness to practise case concerning her relationship with a man referred to as “Service User A”.
The psychologist had worked with the prisoner at HMP Isle of Wight for around 21 months, from October 2019 until her last working day at the prison on 12th July 2021, when she was promoted as a registered psychologist in HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and moved to her new base of HMP Winchester.
Although allegations had been made about a relationship developing while Forgione was still working with him, the professional tribunal did not find that she had entered into an emotional or romantic relationship with the prisoner during that period.
An earlier Prison Service investigation had also concluded there was no evidence at the time to corroborate claims of a relationship, while Police found insufficient evidence to begin a criminal investigation into contact involving the prisoner’s family.
However, the HCPTS later found that Forgione seriously breached professional boundaries after her professional involvement with the prisoner had ended.
Following around 5 months without contact, Forgione contacted the man on Christmas Day 2021.
Her own phone records subsequently showed approximately 400 calls over a 35-day period, with contact taking place every day, sometimes several times a day and into the early hours of the morning.
During a Skype call on 4th February 2022, Forgione showed the prisoner photographs of herself in a bikini and topless with an arm covering her breasts.
The tribunal rejected her explanation that the photographs related to her weight loss and found the images were sexual in nature.
The pair’s contact continued and, during a video visit in May 2022, Forgione showed the prisoner her clothed bottom after he asked to see it.
The panel concluded that the interaction went far beyond appropriate professional boundaries and that elements of her behaviour were sexual in nature.
Just 4 days later, Forgione wrote to her professional regulator stating that she was not in a sexual, financial or emotional relationship with the prisoner.
The tribunal concluded that she was, by that point, in a deep emotional and intimate relationship with him and found that she had deliberately lied to the regulator about its status.
By July 2022, Forgione accepted that the pair were in a relationship.
She sent the prisoner a birthday card featuring the bikini and topless photographs, alongside an intimate message which referred to him as her lover and described the importance of their relationship.
The tribunal heard that Forgione and the prisoner remained in a relationship at the time she gave evidence during the proceedings in 2025.
Her contact with the prisoner was also found to have had a detrimental impact on his treatment after he was transferred to a specialist unit.
Staff reported that the lengthy telephone conversations interfered with his ability to participate in therapeutic activities and build relationships with staff. He was eventually placed in seclusion and returned to prison without receiving the intended benefit of the placement.
The tribunal found Forgione had repeatedly breached professional boundaries with a highly vulnerable former service user and had not acted in his best interests.
It concluded that her conduct amounted to misconduct and that her fitness to practise was impaired on public interest grounds.
However, the panel also found that Forgione had demonstrated a high level of insight, had taken steps to address her failings and was highly unlikely to repeat the misconduct.
It decided striking her from the professional register would be disproportionate and instead imposed a 9-month suspension, reduced from 12 months to take account of the approximately 3 years she had already spent subject to an interim suspension.
The tribunal said Forgione was otherwise regarded as a competent and effective practitioner and that her conduct was not fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the professional register.
The HCPTS confirmed that after a renewed investigation into Ms Forgione, a review panel decided she can return to work in October.
