|
|
| Huron Valley prison for women stops routine strip search described as "sexually humiliating" |
| By mlive.com - Melissa Anders |
| Published: 04/16/2012 |
|
The Michigan Department of Corrections has stopped a particular body cavity search on female prisoners that inmates and human rights groups have described as degrading and unhygienic. Inmates at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti were subject to a strip search after each contact visit with family, friends, attorneys, religious workers and others. In addition to a standard strip search, the women were required to sit on a chair and use their hands to spread their genitals, allowing a guard to visually search for any hidden contraband. The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the MDOC on Thursday, demanding for a “decisive end” to the practice. In addition to the ACLU, it was signed by 34 human rights, health, legal and religious organizations and individuals. The ACLU said the searches are no more thorough than standard strip searches and that they exacerbate trauma and mental illnesses, especially among prisoners who have been sexually abused. The MDOC asserts it ended the practice in December after a months-long investigation by Warden Millicent Warren that determined it was an “unnecessary irritation.” That particular search now must be authorized by the warden, and only if there’s suspicion of hidden contraband. Warren has not authorized any such searches since she changed the practice in December, MDOC spokesman Russ Marlan said. The ACLU contends it continued receiving letters from prisoners about the search as recent as last week. The group on Thursday confirmed with the MDOC that the practice is no longer in use at Huron Valley, which is Michigan’s only female prison with 1,900 inmates. “There is a standard format for strip searches. There’s nothing pleasant about the standard format, it is humiliating, but Michigan had really gone several steps further in terms of just gratuitous sexual humiliation of these women,” said Mie Lewis, senior staff attorney with the ACLU. “In addition to being humiliating, it was extremely unsanitary.” Read More. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think