(AP) Connecticut’s prison system has fired a guard after an Islamic group complained about an anti-Muslim meme he posted on social media years ago.
In a termination letter dated Tuesday and obtained by the Associated Press through a public records request, Garner Correctional Institution warden Amoda Hannah told Officer Anthony Marlak that his use of social media had “undermined the public’s confidence in your ability to function in your position.”
“The type of speech posted threatens the safety of staff and inmates who are Muslim,” Hannah wrote. “Your actions violate the standard of conduct for correctional employees and will not be condoned or tolerated.”
The Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations had called for the firing of Marlak in January, citing a meme he posted on Facebook in 2018, depicting five apparently Muslim men hanging from nooses with the caption, “Islamic Wind Chimes.”
