Strip-searching of 8-year-old at prison leads U.S. state to halt the practice
Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia on Friday ordered the suspension of a policy that allows prison officials to strip-search children after an 8-year-old girl was told to remove her clothes before being allowed to see her father, an inmate.
The child had come to the prison with her father’s girlfriend, Diamond Peerman, who is not the girl’s legal guardian. Prison staff members asked the girl to strip after a dog trained to sniff out drugs had lingered on Peerman and the child while they waited in a line with other visitors, according to The Pilot.“I told her, ‘That means you have to take all of your clothes off or you’re not going to be able to see your dad,’” Peerman told The Pilot. “That’s when she started crying.
The person who authorized the search of the child violated department policy stating that a minor cannot be searched without the consent of a legal guardian or parent, Kinney said. Story continuesPrison visitors, including minors who are with their parents or legal guardians, cannot be searched by force but if they refuse, “they shall be denied entry into the facility,” according to the state Department of Corrections’ operating procedures.
The searches must be done by a prison employee of the same gender. Visitors undergoing a search must remove all of their clothing, including wigs or dentures, and give them to the prison staff for inspection.
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