The Irish Prison Service (IPS) has appealed to Facebook to remove an online group for prison officers because it contains racist and anti-Traveller material.
The Irish Times reports that the IPS has been unsucessful in its bid to have the group, which is independent of the prison service, removed from Facebook.
The social media platform found that the group had not violated its community standards.
The IPS is trying to have it removed again following recent posts, which included a graphic video of a black prisoner being mistreated by a white inmate in Mountjoy.
There has recently been an increase in racist content posted by the 670 serving and retired members of “Irish Jailers, Warders and Buckets” group.
A number of these posts followed the death of George Nkencho, the Nigerian-Irish man shot by gardaí in December.
One post on the group used racist language about people protesting the shooting outside Blanchardstown Garda Station.
“The Irish Prison Service is aware of the private Facebook group and has reported this page to the community standards section of Facebook for review in the past,” a spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said the posts in “no way reflect the views of the organisation” and that it “has again reported the matter to Facebook who are examining the matter”.
