A corrections officer at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset has been identified as one of the corrections officers who participated in an online meme challenge called #feelingcute.

The challenge involved public servants of all kinds – teachers, water meter readers, police, firefighters and others – taking selfies at work, and joking that they are “feeling cute” and might take some negative action connected to their job later, “idk” (I don’t know),  then posting the meme on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media outlets.

The worker’s meme said, “#feelingcute, might lock your boyfriend down later, idk yet.” It was later removed.

Col. James Bailey said there are very specific rules about posting images of the jail’s interior on social media, and showing the uniform on social media, both of which were done in this instance.  Bailey said that unlike other cases where corrections officers have made "scary" threats toward inmates, The meme wasn’t one of those. Still,  Bailey said that he conducted an investigation. “We took actions for policy violations to ensure this will not happen again,” he said.

“It’s not good from the standpoint of trust in the institution,” he said. “But it’s not like some of the other memes (in other institutions) where inmates are being specifically threatened.”

Bailey said the situation will be reviewed in light of the policies and procedures, and all employees will be made aware again that this sort of thing is not acceptable.