West Virginia's governor just fired an entire group of prison guard trainees after they posed with Nazi salutes in a class photo

YouTube/CBS Evening News

• West Virginia’s governor fired an entire class of prison guard trainees after they made Nazi salutes in a posed photo.

• An investigation found that the class had been making the salutes throughout their academy training in an effort to “hail” their instructor because she was “a hard-ass like Hitler.”

• The instructor, Karrie Byrd, ordered the cadets to use the salute in their class photo, even insisting the photo be retaken multiple times to ensure all students participated, the investigation said.

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West Virginia’s governor fired an entire class of prison guard trainees after an internal investigation found that they posed with Nazi salutes in a class photo at their instructor’s direction.

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Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, announced Monday that he had reviewed the investigation and approved a list of recommendations from the cabinet secretary, which included firing all cadets and one staff member, and suspending four other instructors who saw the photos or witnessed the salutes.

“I condemn the photo of Basic Training Class 18 in the strongest possible terms,” Justice said in a statement. “I also said that this act needed to result in real consequences — terminations and dismissals. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated on my watch in any agency of State government.”

 

The investigation by the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation found that the salutes were meant to be “Hail Byrd” gestures, referring to the trainees’ instructor, Karrie Byrd. Byrd told an investigator that “they do that because I’m a hard-ass like Hitler.”

The investigation also said that the gesture and photo were “highly offensive and egregious in appearance,” but lacked any “overt motivation or intent that this was a discriminatory act toward any racial, religious, or ethnic group.”

Instead, “contributing factors included poor judgment, ignorance, peer pressure, and fear of reprisal,” the investigation said.

Multiple cadets were uncomfortable with the gesture, but their peers assured them it was fine because it wasn’t racially motivated

According to the investigation, trainees used a Nazi salute to indicate “Hail Byrd” early in their session at the academy, and immediately prompted discomfort and confusion from some of the cadets.

“Several cadets recognized it for its historical implications and refused to go along with the class,” the investigation said. “Others who knew the implications of the gesture felt pressure to fit in and joined in.”

The investigation said though some cadets voiced concerns, their classmates assured them that the gesture wasn’t racially motivated and was therefore fine. And though two instructors also saw the cadets using the gesture and told them to stop using it, the class continued anyway.

One student even rebuked an instructor, saying, “Look at me I am black, and I am doing it,” the investigation said.

Associated Press/Jim Justice

The report also said that when it came time to take class photos, Byrd instructed the cadets to use the gesture, and insisted the photo be retaken several times to ensure everyone made it.

The investigation said 10 cadets said they didn’t make the gesture until Byrd told them to, and that they only did so because they feared they wouldn’t be allowed to graduate if they disobeyed Byrd’s instructions.

“Seven of those cadets, in order to comply with Byrd’s direction but not make the gesture, held up a closed fist,” the report said.

But even those who held up the closed fist were recommended for termination because “their conduct, without question, has also resulted in the far-reaching and harmful perceptions that are the antithesis of the values we strive to attain.”

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