West Virginia governor fires 34 prison guard trainees who gave Nazi salute

CHARLESTON, West Virginia — West Virginia’s governor fires 34 correction officer trainees who were photographed giving a Nazi salute, and their instructor. He also says four instructors are being suspended without pay.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice announces his decision after receiving a report from state investigators that the trainees regularly gave the Nazi salute “as a sign of respect” for their instructor in the weeks prior to the release of the photo. Its release earlier this month triggered widespread outrage.

“As I said from the beginning, I condemn the photo … in the strongest possible terms,” Justice says 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.”

A three-page executive summary was released Monday detailing the state’s inquiry into the controversial image.

West Virginia correctional cadets who gave Nazi salute in photo will all be fired https://t.co/R4fojAjr8x

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) December 31, 2019

The summary determined that an unnamed number of trainees in Academy Class 18 began using the hand gesture in the second or third week of training “as a sign of respect” for their correctional academy instructor, Karrie Byrd. Other classmates then began using the gesture. Justice says Byrd has been fired.

— AP