Prisons overuse strip searches to dehumanize people like me. End this horrific practice now.
New York, where I was incarcerated, should respect the bodily integrity and human dignity of those it holds in prison, as should every state.
I remember the first time it happened while I was in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction. I followed their orders: Take all your clothes off, turn around and bend over, spread your butt cheeks. I still carry the sense of violation from that experience and thousands more.
For incarcerated persons, few experiences are as degrading as the strip search. They may be necessary in rare circumstances, but they are always humiliating, a reminder of your total inability to control access to the most intimate parts of your body
Even worse is what people in prisons call the "credit card swipe," the practice of sliding a gloved hand between a person's buttocks. The practice is basically indistinguishable from sexual assault. I was "swiped" on my arrival at Clinton Correctional Facility in 2014: hands on the wall, feet spread out and back. Had I gotten off the wall, I would have been accused of resisting a search and possibly beaten by guards.
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The testimony of persons who have returned from New York's prisons – especially deeply troubled and violent prisons, such as Attica Correctional Facility – suggests guards use this practice indiscriminately not to identify contraband but as a form of punishment and a means of control.
This degrading practice needs to stop. It is dehumanizing and unnecessary, and harmful to the prison system's legitimate goals in the long run.
Searches unneeded and triggering
New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision's Directive 4910 says, "Contact through the clothing with the genitalia, groin, breast, inner thigh, and buttocks is a necessary component of a thorough pat frisk. However, staff must avoid any penetration of the anal or genital opening through the clothing during a pat frisk."
The credit card swipe technically meets these criteria because there is no penetration. But in its invasion of a person's dignity and bodily autonomy, it still has all the earmarks of a penetrative search. It can be especially triggering to those who have experienced sexual violence, which is common among those in prison.
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Moreover, the credit card swipe is unnecessary and serves no legitimate security interest. As the Federal Bureau of Prisons policy on bodily searches notes, "Ordinarily, an inmate of either gender will not be able to conceal contraband in his/her anal cavity for an extended period of time" – much less contraband lodged between the buttocks. Time takes care of this kind of smuggling, which is far more rare than police procedurals on TV would have you believe.
Prisons are also now using body scans akin to those used at airports to search incoming persons for contraband, achieving better security results without the trauma and degradation. But strip searches remain common. The more intrusive "credit carding" practice has clearly been used as a means of control, humiliation and provoking a reaction that might lead to pretext for a beating or other punishment.
Strip frisks require probable cause
By state policy, strip frisks in New York prisons are supposed to occur only upon "probable cause" of a violation or security risk, not "mere suspicion … unsupported by articulable fact." But my own experience and the testimony of other incarcerated persons is that they have often been used without any suspicion or particular indication of need, as a means of humiliating or cowing the insubordinate, would-be troublemakers, or those who simply don't fall into line quickly enough.
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When employed indiscriminately, these degrading searches almost certainly undermine institutional security, to say nothing of rehabilitative goals. Ultimately, rather than cowing the defiant, unnecessary strip searches are likely to inflame opposition and defiance of authority – exactly the opposite effect intended, and one at odds with rehabilitation and recidivism-prevention goals. I’ve seen it happen.
This practice is self-defeating, in both the long and short terms.
Strip searches should be limited to situations where there is probable cause, based on specific articulated facts, that a person has hidden contraband. However, the "credit card" practice should be eliminated completely and immediately. New York and every other state should respect the bodily integrity and human dignity of those it holds in prison.
Alelur "Alex" Duran (he/him) is a program director at Galaxy Gives overseeing its criminal justice reform portfolio. His passion to dismantle systems of oppression comes from having been impacted by the criminal legal system at a young age and being sentenced to 14 years in prison for manslaughter.
This column is part of a series by USA TODAY Opinion about police accountability and building safer communities. The project began in 2021 by examining qualified immunity and continues in 2022 by examining various ways to improve law enforcement. The project is made possible in part by a grant from Stand Together, which does not provide editorial input.
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A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Corrections & Community Supervision said the "credit card swipe" practice is not permissible under DOCCS policy. To report a policy violation, you can file a complaint with the department’s Office of Special Investigations. Incarcerated individuals can also file a grievance through the Inmate Grievance Program.