A high-ranking Maryland corrections official was fired Thursday for making “inappropriate comments” on Facebook about prison security guards, according to a Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services spokesman.

Michael A. Allred was hired a few weeks ago to oversee the compilation of statistics and serve as the department’s liaison to the law enforcement community, said Gerard Shields, a department spokesman. On Wednesday, Shields said Allred accompanied the department’s new secretary, Stephen T. Moyer, on a tour of several prison facilities in Jessup.

That same day, Allred posted on his Facebook page: “Visiting the prisons … haven’t been groped this much since the flight on the honeymoon … and this is just the guards!”

Allred tagged his boss, Moyer, and “Maryland House of Correction” in the post, according to a screenshot provided to The Washington Post by a spokesman for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a major union that represents prison guards.

Shields confirmed the authenticity of the post. Allred could not be reached for comment on Thursday evening.

Union members circulated the screenshot on Thursday morning, said Jeff Pittman, a spokesman for the union who described the message as “inappropriate and insulting to 7,200 Maryland correctional officers.”

Within hours, Moyer announced he had “terminated” Allred. A statement released by the department states that Moyer holds his staff to “the highest professional standards” and “requires all employees to respect the department, their authority, and their peers.”

From The Washington Post