Texas prison officials are investigating allegations that some of its officers penned Facebook posts apparently promoting inmate mistreatment as part of a social media fad called the "Feeling Cute Challenge."

It's not clear where the challenge originated, but the posts feature men and women taking selfies in state, federal and county employee uniforms with captions ranging from tongue-in-cheek to inflammatory, accompanied by the hashtag #feelingcute.

"Feeling cute, might just gas some inmates today, IDK," one poster captioned a selfie of a woman wearing what appears to be a Texas Department of Criminal Justice uniform.

"#feelingcute my (sic) gas the whole wing later," another poster wrote next to a selfie showing a man wearing a uniform featuring a TDCJ patch. Both posters' names match up to current prison employees, though neither responded to the Chronicle's request for comment and the department stressed that officials have not yet authenticated the posts.

Inmate families began emailing department officials Monday with names and screenshots of posts, demanding immediate action.

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"The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is aware of the so-called feel cute challenge currently on social media," prison spokesman Jeremy Desel told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday morning. "A handful of correctional officers employed by this agency are under investigation for on and off-duty conduct violations as a result of the alleged posting of inappropriate photographs on social media."

It's not clear how many employees are being investigated.

"These officers in no way represent the thousands of TDCJ employees who go to work every day taking public safety seriously in all ways," Desel added. "If any of these allegations prove correct then swift disciplinary action as severe as termination of involved employees will occur."

The "challenge" already raised eyebrows elsewhere in the country, after a water employee apparently joked about shutting off customers' utilities.

"Feeling cute, might cut your water off later, IDK," wrote a man whose uniform identified him as a water worker in Georgia. That post sparked some backlash, and Columbus Water Works responded in a statement to the local paper there.

"Although Columbus Water Works received very few comments on this post from customers," a spokesman told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, "CWW certainly understands that continued discussions with our employees on social media usage and its potential impact is important."

But the trend continued elsewhere, eventually popping up on a Facebook page titled Correctional Officer Life, where some posts from Texas started appearing last week. The page has more than 29,000 members across the country and has since been set to private.

As of Tuesday morning, the page still boasted numerous "Feeling Cute" posts from men and women wearing correctional officer and sheriff's office uniforms, though many of the images offered inoffensive captions.

"Good morning from Texas," wrote one woman sporting a prison worker uniform. "#feelingcutechallenge."

But others from across the country included more eyebrow-raising captions.

"San Diego BOP #feelingcutechallenge feeling cute may spray my partner to keep interesting," read the caption on one post.

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"Felt cute... might wrestle an inmate later," read the caption next to a selfie of a man in a sheriff's office uniform from Williamson County. The poster did not respond to a message from the Chronicle, and a sheriff's office spokeswoman did not immediately offer comment.

Though the Texas prison system is investigating posts allegedly involving its employees, prisoner advocates and inmate families said the incidents raise concerns about the agency culture and the need for independent oversight, and some pushed for the termination of any employees found to be participating.

"The families are enraged, this is a 'gotcha' moment for them," said Jennifer Erschabek, executive director of Texas Inmate Families Association. "So many times they have reported these types of incidents in these memes only to be told that there was no evidence."

The posts, she said, are indicative of a problematic culture at the agency - one that she believes could be addressed through the creation of an independent oversight office, like what already exists in the juvenile prison system. Currently, there are two proposed bills up for consideration during the ongoing legislation that, if passed, would create an independent ombudsman to oversee the state's 104 prisons.

"If TDCJ starts to realize where these issues are coming from they can start to be more preventive with hiring or education or training," she said. "We're just not getting what we need from the prison administration."

Michele Deitch, an attorney and criminal justice expert who teaches at University of Texas-Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs, said she hoped the department would see the alleged postings as more than "simply" a disciplinary matter.

"I hope the agency is asking itself tough questions about what in its culture would allow any staff members, however small in number, to think that such sentiments are acceptable," she said. "That is the value of independent oversight — it takes an outside entity to identify cultural issues that might fester and cause unhealthy dynamics between staff and prisoners."

A spokesman for the correctional officers' union did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but former union chapter president Lance Lowry stressed that most corrections officers stayed out of the social media fray.

"Out of the 25,000 state correctional officers in Texas, I've only seen a few violators," he said. "They don't represent the majority of the officers."