They claimed that she wore too much make up, was “glammed up”, adapting her uniform to hug her petite 5ft frame, and was too friendly with inmates at Brinsford Young Offenders institution near Wolverhampton.
Kajla resigned from her job claiming other staff had bullied her, and took the Prison Service to an industrial tribunal claiming unfair dismissal and age and sex discrimination.
She worked at Brinsford from July 2007 to May 2008, and claimed that she was effectively sacked by the prison service in April last year.
“I couldn’t sleep at night because of the bullying and harassment. I lost weight and decided I couldn’t take it any longer and resigned,” she told the tribunal in Birmingham.
The tribunal ruled in her favour, and her compensation sum is being worked out.
“I am very happy with the tribunal’s decision. All I ever did was try to uphold the HMPS Purpose Statement,” the Sun quoted her as saying.
She slammed the service for backing members of staff who had “closed ranks” against her.
“This clearly states that their duty is to ‘look after prisoners with humanity’ and I sought to apply that in my work by treating prisoners with respect,” she said.
“However, one officer didn’t like my way of working which was counter to the macho approach he favoured. I was seen as a weak woman who could be bullied.
“In particular I am very happy that they have condemned the HMPS for the way they sought to justify the actions of the bully by suggesting that my approach to work and my appearance was inappropriate and could create a breach in security.
“The whole thing was very stressful but I would also like to thank all those members of the HMPS who were prepared to tell the truth at the Tribunal even though they may have feared for their futures in the Service,” she stated.
“I hope the prison service will reflect on the Tribunal’s judgement and recognize that instead of standing back as it did, it should have taken action against the behavior of the bully towards Ms Kajla,” her solicitor Nigel Tillott said.
“The Tribunal believe that the HMPS closed ranks and instead of supporting Miss Kajla it supported the bully.
“The prison service also aggressively pursued the defence of this claim and did not once stop to consider whether it was right to do so,” he added.