US Muslim prison guard says he is target of workplace hate

CHICAGO, Unites States

The Connecticut Department of Corrections said Thursday that it launched an investigation into a fake "report" that mocked a Muslim prison guard inside a state prison.

The incident was first reported Wednesday by the Hartford Courant newspaper.

Officer Shem Brijbailas, filed a complaint after he was shown the document on April 23 at the Cheshire Correctional Institution, northeast of New York City.

In his complaint, Brijbailas said someone at the prison used a printer to create the document that was written as if Brijbailas penned it. The "report" included references to white supremacy and numerous racial slurs.

"The white man has done so much for us (p)eople that we need to shut up and take what is given without complaints," the document reads.

"The embarrassment I feel is indescribable and at no point do I feel safe in such a volatile and hateful work environment and I am concerned for my safety and mental wellbeing," Brijbailas said in his complaint.

He also claimed that it was the second time he was been targeted. He said a complaint he filed about a similar fake report, posted on bulletin boards at the prison in 2017, went nowhere.

The head of the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Farhan Memon, said he received assurances from the commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Corrections that the investigation will involve "multiple employee interviews."

It is not the first time this year the Connecticut Department of Corrections has come under fire for possible anti-Muslim hate.

A state prison guard was placed on leave in January after CAIR called him out for a social media post that targeted Muslims with violent imagery.