Tuesday 6 July 2010
Ever hear of a Fourth Amendment scandal? ☀
After being arrested and charged with simple misdemeanor trespass under Iowa law, the two women were taken to the Linn County jail. At the jail, despite the fact neither woman was suspected of hiding weapons or contraband and had only been charged with a simple misdemeanor, Linn County Deputy Sheriff Michelle Mais conducted a “full strip search” of the two women in violation of jail policy. The “full strip search” required the two women to strip naked and included a visual body cavity search. In a visual body cavity search, detainees must bend over and spread their buttocks and allow an officer to inspect their rectal area. The visual body cavity search also included an inspection of the women’s vaginas. While Nelson was searched, the top half of a Dutch door to the room in which the search took place was open, and male jailers passed by the open door during the search.
