Officer who called in sick had emigrated

A prison officer at Holloway jail who was on sick leave for more than a year had in fact emigrated to New Zealand, a report reveals today.

An astonishing "sick note" culture at the London prison is uncovered in the report, published by a parliamentary watchdog.

A management team sent to the prison to crack down on sickness absence found the officer, a woman, had continued to provide sick notes from a GP, despite having moved to the other side of the world.

The officer missed a key appointment in London arranged by the jail's new managers and was sacked with no compensation when details came to light.

The report, by the influential Public Accounts Committee, found prison managers had little or no contact with many officers on long-term sick leave for more than a year - and in two cases, more than two years.

A pharmacist who took a month's holiday every year in Sri Lanka, his home country, remained there for "a further month or so" on sick leave. "This had happened in the three years previously but no challenges appeared to have been made," the report states.

When it happened again, the report adds, Holloway's personnel chief contacted the pharmacist in Sri Lanka, who "advised that he had been knocked down by a car the day before he was due to return". This officer too was sacked after providing an " inadequate and unacceptable" response.

Holloway tops the absenteeism league of the country's prisons. In April 2002 staff took an average of almost 36 days sick a year - more than seven weeks each. Fifty-five members of staff were on longterm sick pay.

After the new team was sent in, that figure fell to just over 15 days by April last year, but Holloway was still top of the sick league.

The committee found a nurse at the jail had been off sick for two years and seven months; the officer was dismissed for "medical inefficiency". A principal officer off sick for two years six months was " medically retired". Others on sick leave, including nurses, prison officers, a typist and a caterer, were either sacked or brought back to work.

The report reveals staff costs - ?1,214 million for some 45,400 employees - made up 46 per cent of gross Prison Service operating costs in 2002-03. The service lost 668,337 working days - the equivalent of a year's work for 3,000 full-time workers in 2002-03 - at a cost of around ?80 million. Colin Moses, chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, said the high level of sickness absence was due to understaffing, attacks by inmates on employees, and the service's failure to offer occupational health support.

Mr Moses said: "It is happening first and foremost because we are running at 1,800 prison officers short across the service."

The revelations come after an employment tribunal last week heard how a group of lesbian prison officers dubbed The Magnificent Seven had ruled Holloway jail using sexual bullying.

Now all transferred, they allegedly selected targets from "straight" male officers and younger women recruits, using the staff social club as a power base.