Arrested! Female Jail Guards who Performed Illegal Strip Searches on Women visitors [View all]
A woman who arrived at the jail next to Manhattan criminal court to visit a detainee last August was given a curt instruction: sign a consent form and undergo a search.
Believing that she had no choice, the woman complied, a prosecutor said in court on Monday. A correction officer told her to pull down her pants and spread her legs, while other officers stood nearby and watched.
She was then instructed to lower her underwear and remove a sanitary napkin. The officers found no contraband, the prosecutor said.
This search was one of five illegal searches described in a 27-count indictment unveiled on Monday against five guards and a former supervisor who worked at the Manhattan Detention Complex on Centre Street, a jail known colloquially as the Tombs.
The corrections officers were arrested and arraigned in State Supreme Court on charges including official misconduct, conspiracy, unlawful imprisonment and filing false documents. They all pleaded not guilty and were released without bail.
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The correction officers “blocked exits, surrounded visitors on all sides, forcibly removed visitors’ clothing, including underwear, touched visitors’ breasts, examined visitors’ vaginal and buttocks areas, forced visitors to squat without pants or underwear, and forced visitors onto the floor,” the document said.
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The officers accused of illegal searches in the indictment were Alifa Waiters, 45, Daphne Farmer, 49, Jennifer George, 32, Lisette Rodriguez, 51, and Latoya Shuford, 36. Leslie-Ann Absalom, 53, a retired correction captain, was also charged.
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The people subjected to illegal searches were restrained with “physical force, intimidation, and deceit, even after visitors asked to leave or visitors affirmatively stated that they did not consent to be searched,” prosecutors said in court papers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/nyregion/illegal-strip-searches-jail.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage
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