Guard who was fired over anti-Muslim meme is reinstated

By PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut prison guard who was fired in 2021, several years after posting what was determined by the state to be an anti-Muslim meme on Facebook, has been reinstated to his job. An arbitrator, appointed after the prison guards’ union appealed, ruled that Anthony Marlak’s termination was an excessive response by the state and reduced the punishment to a 25-day suspension. Marlak, who served as a correctional officer for 14 years returned to his job in March. Marlak has acknowledged that he posted the meme of five Muslim men hanging, but said the caption on his post read “ISIS Wind Chimes” and not “Islamic Wind Chimes” as the state was told in a complaint against him.