Prison officer caught watching porn on work computer resigns

Source says prison is in 'sorry state' and staff are regularly suspended or sacked

The prison officer agreed to resign after getting caught watching explicit videos on the work PC (Corbis)

A prison officer has resigned after getting caught watching pornography on an office computer.

The staff member was found to have downloaded and watched explicit videos while on night shift duty at Forest Bank prison in Pendlebury, near Manchester, his employee confirmed.

After administrators examined the office computer he was working on, the guard admitted to watching the videos and agreed to resign with immediate effect.

An unnamed colleague of the man at Forest Bank, which houses 1,500 inmates, said prison officers at the facility were “regularly getting sacked or suspended” over various breaches of conduct.

“Nights are generally when prisoners are using their mobile phones and this can be reported by the night officer but this is proof that staff do not care or watch each other’s backs,” he told Manchester Evening News.

“I have worked at Forest Bank for more than 10 years and this prison has massively gone downhill over the years. It is in a sorry state.”

In October, Forest Bank prison came under fire after videos emerged of prisoners taking drugs and illegally using mobile phones in their cells, without prison guards realising.

Body scanners are to be introduced at the prison in the New Year to stop contraband being readily available to inmates.

The Ministry of Justice said in a statement: “A member of staff has resigned following and internal investigation.

"The chief inspector of prisons found HMP Forest Bank to be a well led, competent and confident prison and recognised the good relationship between prisoners and staff.”