A former prison officer has told an employment tribunal that bullying among staff at HMP Edinburgh left female officers in tears during their shifts.
Agata Stankiewicz is pursuing a claim against the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), which used to employ her. Her account comes from Edinburgh Live’s report of the hearing.
Mrs Stankiewicz started work at HMP Edinburgh in 2018. In 2024 she moved to Ratho Hall, a section of the jail. She told the tribunal that she found the culture there “completely different”.
She described a “mean girl club” among staff, marked by nastiness and snide remarks. She also told the tribunal about an incident in which an officer allegedly wrote an obscene message about a colleague on a whiteboard that prisoners could see.
“More officers were crying on the shift, they were in more and more fights between officers … Two female officers broke down at work,” she said. She added that one of them had said she could not take any more.
Complaint and investigation
Mrs Stankiewicz became a whistleblower and made a formal complaint about the whiteboard incident. An inquiry into the complaint started in September 2024.
A prison manager, Jill Dollard, found that two officers had a case to answer. John O’Connor, a more senior SPS official, disagreed. In November 2024 the investigation concluded that the two officers had no case to answer. They moved from Ratho Hall to other parts of the prison.
Mrs Stankiewicz was also asked to move to a different part of the jail. She told the tribunal she felt the transfer was “targeted”. She claimed another unit manager told her that “they wanted everyone out of [Ratho Hall] that was involved in this investigation”.
She said that, after she started her new role, other officers kept up their intimidation. She said they stared her down in corridors and ignored her radio requests. She left the service in 2025 and is now seeking reinstatement.
Mr O’Connor, now an SPS operational advisor, also gave evidence. He said he knew of a “playground antics” culture in Ratho Hall. Explaining why he rejected the complaint about the whiteboard, he said: “It was a lot of ‘he said, she said’. There were two different camps at the time.”
The tribunal is continuing.
