Law Virginia bans prison strip-searches for children

US state bans prison strip-searches for children

The governor's order comes after an eight-year-old visiting her dad was ordered to strip naked.

www.bbc.com

Virginia bans prison strip-searches for children

Governor Ralph Northam said he was "disturbed" by the incident


Virginia has suspended a rule allowing children to be strip-searched before jail visits after an eight-year-old girl was subjected to the ordeal.

Prison officials have apologised for last month's incident and said proper procedures for child strip-searches had not been followed.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said he was "deeply disturbed" by the incident and called for an inquiry.

The girl was permitted to see her jailed father after she was checked.

The incident took place on 24 November at the Buckingham Correctional Center in the town of Dillwyn, Virginia.

The girl, who has not been named, had travelled for more than two hours for the visit with her father's girlfriend, Diamond Peerman.

Ms Peerman is not her legal guardian and therefore could not legally give consent to a search, according to the prison.

They were singled out to be searched after a sniffer dog alerted guards, and were warned that if they did not agree they could be banned from the prison.

Virginia Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Kinney said in a statement before the governor's announcement that "the staff member who authorised the search... didn't have the authority to do so", and would be subjected to disciplinary action.

She added that "search policy was violated" and this "represents a breech in our protocol".

"We sincerely apologise to this child and her family and will be taking immediate disciplinary action against the person responsible," she said.

She added that Virginia prisons have seen cases of children being used to smuggle contraband.

Ms Peerman reportedly said the girl was distraught when told she would not be allowed to see her father unless she undressed in front of two female guards.

She told the Virginia-Pilot newspaper that a guard had asked the girl how old she was while she was putting her clothes back on, and that she found the question inappropriate.

"Why would you ask that when she's naked?" Ms Peerman was quoted as saying.

They were granted a no-contact visit and permitted to speak to the incarcerated inmate through glass.

The girl's mother says her daughter already suffered from bipolar disorder, depression and ADHD, and has had to miss school due to the humiliating search.

After the incident, the girl messaged her mother to say: "Am so mad the jail had to strip me with all of my clothes off this doesn't make no sinc [sic]."

"Did they make you take your pants off?" her mum asked.

"Yes all of my clothes off," she responded.

A prison official called the girl on 2 December to apologise and promise that the department would investigate.

The girl's mother says her daughter has a good relationship with her father due to frequent visits, but the latest left her "traumautised".

She added that the girl will not be visiting her father again due to the incident.

 

[Captain Manning]

This is an issue of procedure, not some sort of weird jackboot police state thing. They probably do this all the time and it's never a problem because no one goes to the media about prison guards bending the rules for them a little bit.

And I'd be more okay with this if she had actual physical contact with her father. You know, if they got to eat lunch with each other in a room or whatever. I get that smuggling in contraband is a problem, and an 8 year old could be used as a mule. Security is job one. Okay.

Where you lose me is where she has to be strip searched just to talk to her dad through a glass partition.

The thought has occurred to me that an excellent way to smuggle shit into prison would be to buy off the guard doing the strip search. The guard knows the mule is coming and then prompts the drug dog to alert on the mule. It would look like they're just following procedure, right?

As for the "police state" thing, I genuinely am distrustful of the whole drug dog thing anyways. There's a growing body of evidence which suggests the dog can be prompted to alert whenever the handler wants (what Fouth Amendment?). In this case, that either happened here, the dog was wrong, or the girl had really a minute trace of something on her that doesn't meet the definition of contraband.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

And I'd be more okay with this if she had actual physical contact with her father. You know, if they got to eat lunch with each other in a room or whatever. I get that smuggling in contraband is a problem, and an 8 year old could be used as a mule. Security is job one. Okay.

Where you lose me is where she has to be strip searched just to talk to her dad through a glass partition.

The thought has occurred to me that an excellent way to smuggle shit into prison would be to buy off the guard doing the strip search. The guard knows the mule is coming and then prompts the drug dog to alert on the mule. It would look like they're just following procedure, right?

As for the "police state" thing, I genuinely am distrustful of the whole drug dog thing anyways. There's a growing body of evidence which suggests the dog can be prompted to alert whenever the handler wants (what Fouth Amendment?). In this case, that either happened here, the dog was wrong, or the girl had really a minute trace of something on her that doesn't meet the definition of contraband.

I'm surprised hippies haven't said anything. "Butttttttt......we are alllll naked technically sooooooo......."

But like if you're that worried about contraband.

It's like the razors in the Halloween candy.

 

[heyilikeyourmom]

Okay, you're a prison guard and a kid travels from 2 hours to see their father. The drug dog alerts you to the kid or the person with the kid having contraband.

There is a massive grey area between “You can never see your daddy again” and “...unless you show me your butthole!”