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IDOC issues new social media policy for employees

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Illinois

* Background is here. From Injustice Watch…

Following Injustice Watch reporting last month about more than two dozen state correctional employees who participated in conversations that mocked or disclosed personal information about transgender inmates in private Facebook groups, the Illinois Department of Corrections announced a revised social media policy for its roughly 12,000 employees that goes into effect over the weekend.

The new social media policy specifically bars employees from sharing confidential information about prisoners or other staff, including details about current or past investigations and criminal or civil proceedings involving the department. The policy also prohibits any content that is vulgar, obscene, threatening, discriminatory, or disparaging based on race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.

New employees will be taught the policy prior to beginning their service, and all staffers will undergo training on the policy on an annual basis, the policy states.

In the two private Facebook groups, posts written by by low-level officers, sergeants, lieutenants, and other correctional staffers degraded transgender women, outed other LGBTQ prisoners, alleged sexual acts and disclosed information about medical treatments prisoners received.

The policy, which goes into effect December 1, also prohibits employees from sharing a wide range of information related to their employment with the department on social media, including their rank, title or position, department seals, logos, uniforms, and name tags, without express permission from the director.

All of the corrections officers named in Injustice Watch’s reporting had publicly identified themselves on social media as corrections staffers, had posted about their specific roles or had photos of themselves in uniform online.

The full directive is here.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 2:27 pm

Comments

You’ve heard of HIPA
Now we have PAPA

Comment by Blue Dog Dem Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 2:37 pm
No snark: Is this a response for the sake of having a response, or did IDOC not have adequate mechanisms until now to enforce privacy, disclosure, and harassment policies?

Comment by Bertrum Cates Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 2:39 pm
Will be interesting to see how well this survives legal challenge as to names, ranks, uniforms, etc. since some of the information is public record by statute to start with via the State of Illinois Telephone Directory, as well as the Comptroller’s Salary Database, as examples.

Comment by revvedup Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 2:47 pm
All of this stuff was already grounds for disciplinary action.

Comment by Thomas Paine Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 2:48 pm
Posting information on inmates is just dumb, but beyond that, as long as you don’t disclose your employer on your profile, it’s none of their business what you say online.

Comment by Chili Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 2:56 pm
At one time, years ago, we believed that you should never share any personal information with inmates. Anything that they can get a hold of they can and will use against you, and in some cases, your family. Nothing like that should have ever been posted for the entire world to see. And why in the world would you think its a good idea to post anything about inmates at all? Try and think about what you share, and remember the entire world is watching you.

Comment by SOIL M Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 3:29 pm
Doesn’t look like some parts of it are enforceable without violating the First Amendment. It states it doesn’t override the first amendment so I guess technically, at best, it’s contradictory.

Comment by Union Dues Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 3:29 pm
== it’s none of their business what you say online==

We’ve fired someone for what they’ve posted on Facebook.

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 3:36 pm
It is very much your employer’s business what you say online when you are posting information you obtained at your workplace which is not intended for public dissemination.

Comment by former southerner Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 3:38 pm
Let’s clarify for those who have issues with reading comprehension challenges, it’s none of their business unless it’s work related.

Comment by Chili Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 3:49 pm
==it’s none of their business unless it’s work related.==

Sure it is. You want to be a racist on Facebook. Fine with me. You can say what you want. I can also fire you for it because I don’t want a racist working for me.

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 4:37 pm
So does this mean that IDOC employees with private social media accounts have to allow IDOC to follow their personal social media accounts?

Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Nov 26, 19 @ 5:23 pm
== Posting information on inmates is just dumb, but beyond that, as long as you don’t disclose your employer on your profile, it’s none of their business what you say online ==

Depending on your profile it isn’t that hard to figure out who your employer is.

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Nov 27, 19 @ 8:38 am