As reported in a joint effort by Injustice Watch and BuzzFeed News, at least 25 Illinois Department of Corrections employees not only mocked transgender incarcerated people online but used Facebook groups to share their personal information, including medical details. Each group reportedly has more than 4,000 members.
The two Facebook groups, both of which were private, were reportedly both named “Behind the Walls.” One group description reads, “snitches will be permanently banned from the group. No warnings, no second chances.” The creators of the groups took care to specify that they are intended only for former and current Illinois Department of Corrections employees. Because the groups are “private,” a moderator must accept people into the group in order to see the posts.
Injustice Watch, a nonprofit newsroom, discovered the groups while doing a deep dive into the disturbing trend of hateful posts by law enforcement officers on social media. You might remember, for example, when Daily Kos covered a study that found that one in five police officers made bigoted or violent posts on Facebook, or our coverage of the 72 Philadelphia officers caught making thousands of racist Facebook posts.
As BuzzFeed explains, many members of these groups identified themselves as correctional officers on their Facebook profiles. For some of the users, this included posting pictures of themselves in uniform and writing about their jobs. In addition to this, however, Injustice Watch verified who was who in the group by comparing their names to a database of staff members posted by the state.
As reported by BuzzFeed, participating employees included a counselor, parole officer, sergeants, lieutenants, and other officers. The department confirmed to BuzzFeed that a disciplinary process is ongoing for the 25 referenced employees, though it’s unclear what that entails.
Rob Jeffreys, the acting director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, gave a statement to BuzzFeed News, explaining it is “firmly dedicated to fostering a culture of tolerance, inclusion, and respect in our correctional facilities.”
The department is already facing a class-action lawsuit from six transgender women who allege that they received poor medical treatment while incarcerated there. Only fueling the fire, group members shared news stories about the lawsuits and left offensive comments on them.
It goes without saying that there’s an inherent power imbalance between staff and incarcerated people. From there, the disproportionate rates of people of color and trans people only add to the opportunity for systemic abuse of power.
“It’s really a process of changing attitudes and culture change,” training creator Dr. Shane Reister told BuzzFeed. And while people are “changing attitudes,” the most vulnerable and disenfranchised among us are left in the balance.