Prison managers who swapped difficult prisoners ahead of inspections face disciplinary action.

Dame Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons, has revealed how managers at Wandsworth and Pentonville Prisons in London conspired to move vulnerable prisoners ahead of inspections.

Five senior managers face disciplinary action, including the two former governors, although they are still working in the prisons system in Wales and Cambridgeshire.

One Wandsworth inmate, on learning of the short notice move, took an overdose but was moved to Pentonville anyway, after doctors agreed he could move.

Another cut himself and tied a ligature around his neck, was dragged to the prison reception "bloody, handcuffed and dressed only in underwear", and still had blood on his face when he arrived at Pentonville, the Owers report said.

A third Wandsworth inmate, Christopher Wardally, was taken to Pentonville after a court appearance and killed himself a week after the inspection was complete and once all three prisoners were back at Wandsworth.

Owers has accused the managers responsible of a "dereliction of their duty of care" to inmates and said that Wandsworth had been warned about the dangers of transferring prisoners following an earlier prison suicide.

"Every prison in the country knows that prisoners are particularly vulnerable to suicide in the days immediately after they move to a new prison," she said.

"This inspection will be remembered for the unacceptable attempts, at managerial level, to subvert the inspection process at the expense of prisoners' wellbeing.

"This is deplorable, not only because of the effects on individuals, but because of the underlying mind-set: that prisoners are merely pieces to be moved around the board to meet performance targets or burnish the reputation of the prison."

Wardally’s death is being investigated by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and HM Coroner.

On the same day that Owers published her findings, the National Offender Management Service (Noms) published its own report which found that the inspection "may" have delayed the decision to return Wardally to his cell.

A report into transfers from Brixton prison is due to be published this week and justice secretary Jack Straw has called for a review of transfers in general.

He said: "The transfer of prisoners in an attempt to undermine the HMCIP inspection process was disgraceful in its intent and in its execution.

"In its misguided effort to present the prisons in a better light, it neglected one of the service's primary responsibilities - to treat those in its custody with decency and care.

"It was also self-defeating, as prisoners are fully entitled to complain to the Inspectorate, which is exactly what happened in this case."

National Offender Management Service director-general Phil Wheatley told the BBC that the practice was "quite wrong" and had "put prisoners at risk", but rejected claims that the practice was widespread.

Paddy Scriven, general secretary of the Prison Governors Association, has blamed the "target culture" for placing "excessive pressure" on governors at a time of budget cuts, and he has been backed by the Conservative shadow justice secretary.

Dominic Grieve said: "Chronic prison overcrowding and excessive centralised targets have put immense strain on prison staff.

"These failings are the inevitable result of this government's reckless management of the prison estate."