A CLASS photo of rookie prison officers performing a Nazi salute has sparked outrage in the US.

The men and women were on a training course when they posed for a group picture in uniform - which was printed under the slogan "Hail Byrd!".

Rookie prison officers raise their arms in a Nazi salute after a training course in West Virginia Credit: West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety

The logo of the West Virginia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the state badge also appear on the shocking photo.

It features about 30 members of prison staff and appears to have been recently taken for the state’s Basic Training Class #18 which ran from October 21 to November 27, reports the New York Post.

Republican Governor Jim Justice said he has “ordered the termination” of participants in the offensive picture.

He said: “I condemn the photo of Basic Training Class #18 in the strongest possible terms.”

He said he had directed Jeff Sandy, head of the state’s Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, to “continue actively investigating.”

Sandy said in a letter to staff that several employees had already been suspended.

He added: “It is distasteful, hurtful, disturbing, highly insensitive and completely inappropriate.”

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The “Hail Byrd” slogan referred to someone involved with the basic training class, according to a department spokesman quoted by the Washington Post.

Local news outlets had previously suggested the words honoured the former Democrat Senator Robert Byrd — who was a member of the Ku Klux Klan before later denouncing the racist hate group.

He represented West Virginia in Congress for 57 years until his death in 2010.

Last year a shocking photo of a class of 50 boys doing a Nazi salute before a school prom sparked disgust and a police probe.

One lad also appeared to be doing a "white power" hand gesture as they posed outside a court building in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

A number of staff were suspended as bosses investigated the sick photo Credit: West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety