Last Updated on 10/09/2024 by Arun jain
The wife of a California inmate will receive $5.6 million after she was sexually violated during a strip search when she tried to visit her husband in prison, his lawyers said Monday.
After traveling four hours to see her husband at a correctional facility in Tehachapi, California on September 6, 2019, Christina Cardenas was subjected to a strip search, drug and pregnancy tests, X-rays and a CT scan at the hospital by prison officials. , and another strip search by a male doctor who sexually assaulted her, a lawsuit said.
“My motivation for pursuing this lawsuit was to ensure that others do not have to endure the same serious crimes that I experienced,” Cardenas said.
Of the $5.6 million settlement, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will pay $3.6 million and the rest will be paid by other defendants, including two correctional officers, a doctor and Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley Hospital.
Jail officials conducted their search based on a warrant, which said a strip search could only be conducted if X-rays found any foreign objects in Cardenas’ body that might be contraband, her lawyers said. However, no such evidence was found from X-rays or CT scans.
She was also handcuffed in a “humiliating perp walk” while being taken to and from the hospital, and refused to use water or the bathroom during most of the search process. She was told she would have to pay for hospital services and later received invoices totaling more than $5,000. Although no contraband was found in any of her belongings or on her body, Cárdenas was denied a visit with her husband.
A prison official asked her, “Christina, why are you visiting? You don’t need to visit. It’s a choice, and this is part of visiting,” according to Cardenas.
“We believe the unidentified officer’s statement was a form of intimidation to deny Cristina her right to visit her legal husband while incarcerated,” Cardenas’ attorney Gloria Allred said.
Cárdenas also had to undergo a strip search during a previous visit to marry her husband, and continued to experience difficulties during her visit, although not to the extent of the September 6, 2019 incident. Her husband is still in custody.
The settlement also requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to distribute a policy memorandum to employees that better protects the rights of visitors who have to undergo strip searches. This includes ensuring that the search warrant is read and understood by the visitor, that the visitor receives a copy of the warrant, that the scope of the warrant is read and understood by everyone involved, and that the scope of the warrant is not exceeded.
Cardenas is not alone in what she has experienced from correctional officers, Allred said, and hopes the case will help protect the rights of spouses and family members visiting their loved ones in prison.
California prisons have faced The ongoing problem of sexual abuse and misconductThe US Justice Department announced that it has opened an investigation into allegations that two California state prisons systematically sexually abused women incarcerated.
CBS Los Angeles reported that the civil rights investigation will examine the California Institution for Women in Chino, San Bernardino County, and the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, which The largest women’s prison Located in the state and rural areas of Central California. Federal authorities will investigate whether the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) protected inmates from sexual abuse by officers and staff, prosecutors said Wednesday. The facilities house a combined 3,000 people.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 21 women incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County from 2014 to 2020, includes allegations of forced rape, oral sex, intimidation and threats of violence and punishment by officers.
Earlier this year the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced it would close a women’s prison in Northern California “Rape Club” After an Associated Press investigation uncovered rampant sexual abuse by correctional officers.
Post Inmate’s wife wins $5.6 million in settlement for strip search appeared first CBS News.