DILLWYN, Va. – An 8-year-old girl was stripped naked and searched by staff at a Virginia prison after being led to believe that refusal to do so would result in her not being able to see her father, according to local news reports.
“That’s outrageous," Daniel Macallair, executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, told the Virginian-Pilot. “It’s generally regarded in the criminal justice field that you do not strip search young children. I mean most adults, certainly most adults who work in the field of child welfare would know better, that this is an act of child abuse."
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The girl’s mother told reporters that the strip search left her daughter traumatized and caused her to miss school.
“She’s a minor, she’s a girl. She was traumatized,” her mother said. “She gets emotional, she will break down.”
The incident occurred on Nov. 24 when the girl went to Buckingham Correctional Center to visit her father, reports the Pilot. She was accompanied by her father’s girlfriend, Diamond Peerman, who is not her legal guardian. The names of the girl, her mother and her father have been withheld to protect their identities.
Peerman said the visit was routine until she was singled out by a DOC dog trained to sniff out drugs and other contraband. This meant that Peerman would be required to undergo a strip search. Peerman asked if the 8-year-old would need to be searched as well. Prison guards initially said no, but reversed the decision after consulting with a captain, Peerman said.
DOC policy states: “If a visitor refuses to submit to a search, or if a parent or guardian refuses consent for the search of a minor, the individual shall not be searched by force, but shall be denied entry into the facility.”
Peerman believed that if they did not consent to the search, visitation rights would be terminated and the girl would no longer be able to see her father. ACLU of Virginia lawyers have examined the policy and interpreted it to mean just what Peerman assumed, according to the Pilot.
The girl didn’t understand what being strip searched meant, Peerman said.
“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 reporters. “That’s when she started crying.”
DOC policy states that searches on a minor may only be conducted with the consent of and in the presence of the minor’s parent or legal guardian.
Peerman said she told the captain and other corrections officers that she was not the girl’s legal guardian, but she was told to sign the consent form anyways.
Peerman and the girl were taken to a bathroom by two female officers and instructed to take off all their clothes, the Pilot reported. Both were then instructed to bend over and cough. Officers also searched Peerman’s car. No contraband was found and the two were allowed to visit the girl’s father through glass.
The Pilot obtained text messages exchanged between the girl and her mother after the visit.
“Hey Mom, am so mad the jail had to strip me with all of my clothes off this doesn’t make no sinc (sic)” the 8-year-old texted.
“Did they make you take all of your clothes off," her mother texted back before calling her daughter.
The mother later called the DOC captain, who told her that Peerman had signed the consent forms. The captain allegedly cursed at the mother before eventually hanging up on her, the Pilot reported.
The Pilot on Thursday contacted DOC officials with questions about the incident.
“It is deeply troubling and represents a breach in our protocol," DOC Director of Communications Lisa Kinney wrote in an email. "We sincerely apologize to this child and her family and will be taking immediate disciplinary action against the person responsible.”
“Our procedure states that only a parent or legal guardian can approve the strip search of a minor; in this case the adult visitor who signed the consent for the minor to be strip searched wasn’t the minor’s parent or legal guardian,” Kinney continued. “The staff member who authorized the search of the minor following a K-9 alert didn’t have the authority to do so. We take this matter very seriously and as mentioned above will be taking immediate disciplinary action against the person responsible.”
The girl’s mother told reporters that her daughter used to visit her father every weekend, but she will no longer send her back due to the traumatic experience.