Reposted from Democracy Now!
December 31, 2019
In New York, the city has agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit with people who were subjected to invasive strip searches while visiting family members and loved ones in jails in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Rikers Island. Many of the women reported being penetrated by female guards or forced to drop their pants and show their sanitary napkins. The settlement marks the first time the city will pay damages to visitors of jails, who have long raised concerns about the invasive and humiliating strip searches.