Two HMP Wandsworth officers dismissed after ‘despicable’ suicide messages leaked

Two prison officers at HMP Wandsworth were dismissed last year after their messages mocking the suicide of an inmate were leaked by a whistleblower.

After a 21-year-old prisoner took his own life, messages celebrating his death were posted on a WhatsApp group chat containing 27 members of staff employed at the jail.

Hours after the inmate’s death, the prison officer Kevin O’Farrell asked if the deceased was the person referred to as “the f***wit” and a colleague replied “Former fuckwit”, according to the Times which was passed the messages by a whistleblower. 

O’Farrell wrote “Splendid if so. Total pr***”, and “good, I hope he suffered”.

Another officer, Armin Naroozi, shared a gif of a man dancing and wrote: “Another one bites the dust.” 

An officer reported the messages to the governor and O’Farrell and Naroozi were sacked last year for unprofessional conduct.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “This was truly despicable behaviour that tarnishes the hard work of the overwhelming majority of our prison staff.

“The two officers involved were dismissed last year when these messages came to light. Where officers do fall below our high standards, robust action will be taken, as was the case here.”

Both officers were reported to police by the Prison Service but no further action was taken, the spokesman said.

In the WhatsApp group, officers had also joked about assaulting prisoners, spoken about getting revenge against an inmate who assaulted a staff member, mocked a gay prison officer’s appearance, joked that a gay prisoner particularly enjoyed jail shower time and spoke about colleagues taking drugs, The Times reported.

Those who could be identified from the WhatsApp group, but who did not make comments, were given advice and guidance, the Prison Service spokesman said.

Naroozi, now unemployed, told The Times he was “full of remorse and regret” for sending the messages. O’Farrell did not respond to The Times’s requests for comment.

There have been seven self inflicted deaths at HMP Wandsworth in the past year.

An inspection report published in August described the prison as “symbolic of the problems that characterise what is worst about the English prison system”.

The institution was also the subject of a scathing review following an inspection in May, which led Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, to write to the then Secretary of State invoking an Urgent Notification for improvement.

Responding to the notification, the new Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced that the Prison Service is deploying extra specialist staff to the jail and will redirect £100million to be spent over five years at HMP Wandsworth to ensure immediate action is taken to improve conditions.

Pictured top: Wandsworth prison was the subject of a scathing review following an inspection in May (Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga)