Prison staff unfairly sacked over inmate attack claim - tribunal

Three prison staff were unfairly dismissed after a "fundamentally flawed" investigation into claims they attacked an inmate, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Compensation has been ordered for Blair McTague, Scott Milne and Kevin O'Hara who were physical training instructors at HMP Edinburgh.

They were sacked after an incident at the prison in September 2022.

The tribunal's judgement said the prisoner's allegations that he was pinned down, punched and choked were taken at "face value" and "never subject to any scrutiny".

A panel of employment judges concluded that the men's dismissal was unfair.

The judges added: "The investigation which was carried out was fundamentally flawed and not a reasonable investigation in the circumstances of the particular case and the respondent's policy was not adhered to in a material respect."

The incident took place on level two of Hermiston Hall, an area in the Edinburgh jail where most prisoners are on remand or have been sentenced for sexual offences.

An alarm had been sounded and prison officers found two prisoners fighting.

They were subdued and all prisoners were required to return to their cells.

The tribunal heard some of the other inmates were unhappy at being sent back to their cells and that one of them, named only as B, swore at one of the guards and made a racist comment about his South African heritage.

The prison officer challenged B, who went to his cell. B's cellmate was removed from the room while officers dealt with the incident.

B continued to behave aggressively towards the South African guard.

The tribunal heard that nothing was seen on CCTV to suggest any of the guards assaulted the prisoner.

His cellmate was later returned to the cell, and all inmates were let out again around nine minutes later.

B was seen with a mark on his left temple.

The South African guard initially said he may have caused the mark after B allegedly put his hand on the officer, who turned round to shake him off.

B later told a manager he had been assaulted by six officers. He named some of them, but said he did not recognise all of them.

He also went on to tell a trainee psychologist that one of the prison guards called him a "beast" and that two officers pinned him down while two others punched him in the face and began to choke him.

B also alleged he was thrown on to a chair in his cell.

The three officers were suspended having been sent letters informing them of accusations of gross misconduct, including an allegation of using inappropriate force.

They were later sacked, but the tribunal found their employers had been "hasty and inaccurate" in their decision-making.

Some bosses acknowledged their failure to properly investigate the alleged beating, the tribunal heard.

It also heard that while the three former officers were able to secure other jobs, they had suffered financial strain due to being on lower salaries than when they worked at the prison.

The ruling said: "The allegation made by B was never subject to any scrutiny, in that there was no consideration of whether there might be a motive for him to make allegations against officers."

The judges said the tribunal was not suggesting that because an allegation was made by a prisoner it should not be believed.

But they added that the claim was taken at "face value" and B was never asked to explain the inconsistencies in the accounts he had given, or an allegation made by his cellmate that he had injured himself.

The ruling said: "There was no investigation into whether B had made other allegations or why he was in prison in the first place.

"There was no explanation as to why his evidence was favoured over that of seven prisoner officers."

A Scottish Prison Service spokesperson said: "We have received the judgment from the employment tribunal and will take time to fully consider the detail."