Strip-search policy halted after 8-year-old reportedly told to get naked at Virginia prison

[Judi Lynn]

Source: NBC News


The girl was visiting her father when she was led to believe that if she didn't remove her clothes she wouldn't be able to see him, according to reports.

Dec. 6, 2019, 10:15 PM CST
By Phil Helsel
Virginia's governor on Friday ordered the suspension of a Department of Corrections policy after an 8-year-old was reportedly strip-searched when attempting to visit her father in prison last month.

"I am deeply disturbed by these reports — not just as Governor, but as a pediatrician and a dad,” Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, tweeted Friday.

He said that he had directed the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security "to suspend this policy while the Department conducts an immediate investigation and review of their procedures."

On Thursday, The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported that an 8-year-old girl was stripped and searched by a Virginia Department of Corrections staff while visiting her father at Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn.


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/strip-search-policy-halted-after-8-year-old-reportedly-told-n1097551

[marble falls]

1. In that a lot of the most egregious smuggling is done by guards, it would be better to ....

strip search administrators and guards at the start of shifts.

[liberalla]

4. +1

good idea!

[greenjar_01]

2. Everyone knows that some inmates and their people outside will use kids for smuggling

Still, at some point, reasonable people say "You know what? The cost of strip searching kids is higher than the cost of some contraband getting in. And 99% of he kids here aren't being used in that way, so most of these searches are bullshit anyway"

Enough already. It's not a fucking endless contest. Let shit be.

[marble falls]

7. So group punishment is OK? "Everybody" most certainly do know what you do. Kids are not complicit.

[greenjar_01]

11. Did you read the post? It says the opposite

Thank you.

[marble falls]

12. Eight year olds are complicit. Riiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhttttt.

[greenjar_01]

15. My post says the opposite

Jesus.

[Sapient Donkey]

13. Seems like watching the visitors and inmates more closely is what's needed

and if there are suspicions then search inmate after the visit. Putting visiting non-inmates through any sort of invasive search doesn't seem right.

[paleotn]

3. Those involved need to be charged with sexual abuse of a child

and let a jury decide if they're guilty or not.

[Duppers]

10. Yes!

[bitterross]

5. Kinda of torn on this. People would and probably do use kids to smuggle.

I'm very, very sorry the child was traumatized. The child has done nothing wrong and does not deserve to be traumatized for the crimes of her parents.

The unfortunate fact is, though, if the policy becomes kids don't get searched then children will be used to smuggle contraband into prisons. What is the alternative? Not allowing them physical contact? I'd hate to see that too. I'd hate to see kids become even further alienated from their parents who are in prison.

This isn't the case of a kid being singled out in school and strip-searched. It's a kid being taken into a prison. There should be certain expectations people have about entering a correctional facility. That you might be searched is one of those. I don't know how they can make exceptions for kids on this. What age is the age at which it is okay to search someone? I bet the guards search diapers of babies and toddlers with no ill effects. It would be stupid not to.

I think guards have to be allowed to search everyone the same. That said, there has to be a way to do it that doesn't traumatize kids. That, they obviously need to work on. They should engage some child psychologists to suggest the best way to accomplish this.

I don't know the stats but, I would guess that prison personnel are probably the largest source of smuggled contraband though. That seems only logical, given how much gets through. I'd have no problem with them being searched on their way in every day.

[lostnfound]

6. America is down a rabbit hole of ugliness. Nt

[bitterross]

8. Very True. We imprison more people than any other country.

If we addressed some of the root issues and stopped criminalizing every offense, we would be a better place. Don't hold your breath for that happening as long as old white Republicans are in charge. They're all about not sparing the rod. Tough on crime. No matter that the statistics say none of that actually works. That's too science-y for them. They'd rather live out of a 2,000 year-old book written by the very same Middle-Easterners they hate now. I just shake my head.

[NYC Liberal]

14. Don't strip search children, and you can simply search the inmate after the visit. Easy.

[ManiacJoe]

9. Granted that the prison guards screwed up royally,

how do the "victims" not know that saying "no" is an option???
Obviously, saying "no" will prevent the visitation, but still....