26 March,2009 09:04 AM IST | | Agencies
A prison officer has been dismissed for gross misconduct after befriending inmates on social networking site Facebook, it has been revealed.
An investigation found Nathan Singh, who worked at HMP Leicester, had been associating with both serving and former prisoners on the website.
The 27-year-old was dismissed in January for gross misconduct after an investigation found he had inappropriate relationships with 13 criminals. It is believed they included burglars, fraudsters, and someone who had stabbed someone to death outside a nightclub. Six of those criminals had received convictions, but had not served time in prison for their offences.
His links to the criminals were discovered following a prison probe into his activities last year.
Singh claimed at an earlier disciplinary hearing that he knew most of the group from school through playing football.
A Prison Service spokesman said Singh had been associating with serving and former prisoners, outside the course of his employment and without authority. "We take inappropriate relationships with prisoners very seriously and staff who break the rules are liable to be dismissed," he said.
"We carry out thorough checks when we recruit prison officers, looking at character and criminal records as well as nationality and identity.
"The vast majority of our staff are honest, hard-working and professional. We work to create and support a culture which values integrity above all and rejects corruption and dishonesty."
