Racist social media comments ‘have damaged’ Irish Prison Service

Racist and inappropriate comments by prison staff on social media have damaged the reputation of the Irish Prison Service (IPS), its director general has said.

Caron McCaffrey was reacting to reports in The Irish Times of an unauthorised, private Facebook group for serving and retired staff which contained racist and anti-Traveller comments as well as disparaging and threatening remarks about "rats" within the IPS.

The IPS has twice attempted to have the group removed by Facebook but the social media giant ruled it does not breach its community guidelines.

IPS management has now launched an internal inquiry and is speaking with some of the members involved. “We are highlighting that this behaviour is not in line with our social media policy,” a source said.

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An educational programme has also been put in place, consisting of anti-racism material which will be available through internal staff portals. Once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, staff will also undergo ongoing training modules on equality, diversity and inclusion which will be delivered by the IPS college.

Videos

All staff are expected to view the anti-racism material and videos, Ms McCaffrey said in an internal communication on Thursday, seen by The Irish Times.

“Many of you will have read recent media reports about an unauthorised social media site purporting to be made up of serving and retired prison staff,” Ms McCaffrey told staff.

“It has been reported that some staff involved in this group have been making inappropriate and racist comments and comments which do not represent the views of this organisation, our values or in any way represent the professional and hardworking staff of the Irish Prison Service.

Ms McCaffrey said the Facebook comments have “without doubt” harmed the reputation of the IPS and “in turn damaged the reputation of all prison officers and only serves to damage public opinion of our work.

“I am firmly of the opinion that the views expressed in this group do not represent our staff who act with professionalism, integrity and honour on a daily basis.”

Comments

Reports detailing the comments show the IPS “still has work to do” in combating racism among staff and prisoners, she said.

The director general said the IPS had become a more diverse and inclusive organisation and she appointed the service’s first equality, diversity and inclusion lead in 2019.

As well as staff initiatives, further anti-racism “awareness programmes” are being developed for the IPS’s approximately 4,000 prisoners, including a material which will be delivered through the prisoner TV channel.