Two jail bosses have been cleared of gross misconduct charges arising from an attempt to con the prisons watchdog by moving inmates from jails before inspections.

Managers at Wandsworth and Pentonville jails in London switched inmates between the two prisons so they would not be seen during inspections by Dame Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons.

Five prisoners from Wandsworth were moved to Pentonville for the duration of an inspection and six were moved in the opposite direction when she arrived with an inspection team.

Five senior prison staff were charged with disciplinary offences following the discovery that inmates were being switched prior to inspections.

The internal prison service disciplinary hearing has now dismissed gross misconduct charges against Ian Mulholland, former Governor of Wandsworth and now head of custody in Wales, and Nick Leader, formerly Governor of Pentonville and now in charge of Whitemoor, the top security prison in Cambridgeshire.

Malcolm Lewis, the head of resettlement at Wandsworth, has been given a final written warning which remains in force for two years and has been barred from promotion for three years for his part in the switching controversy.

A female deputy governor at Wandsworth has been given “advice and guidance” and an assistant governor at Pentonville has been giving a final written warning which will remain in force for two years.

The disciplinary hearings were conducted by Michael Spurr, deputy head of the National Offender Management Service which runs the prison and probation services.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The disciplinary hearings have concluded into five managers who were charged after allegations of prisoner transfers between HMPs Wandsworth and Pentonville.

“Three members of staff have received disciplinary penalties. Charges were dismissed against two members of staff. No member of staff has been dismissed.”

Under the Prison Service disciplinary code those found guilty of disciplinary offences have seven days to appeal against their penalties.

Dame Anne, in her inspection reports of both prisons, accused those involved in the swapping of inmates of a “dereliction of duty.

She said the work of staff who had tried to improve conditions at both jails would be overshadowed by the prison swap deal. “The inspections will be remembered for the unacceptable attempts at managerial level to subvert the inspection process at the expense of prisoners’ well being”.

An investigation is still going on into similar transfers that took place at Brixton between one and two years ago.

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