Why Are We Still Strip-Searching Prisoners?

Tracy McCarter remembers vividly the first time she was strip-searched. On Rikers Island in New York, she was forced to remove every shred of clothing and bend over to expose the most intimate parts of her body to three strangers. Ms. McCarter, who was arrested after defending herself from a violent domestic partner, said it was one of the most dehumanizing moments of her life. The fact that she is a sexual assault survivor made the search especially traumatizing.

That search, and the dozens more that she experienced during the seven months she spent in jail, never recovered any contraband. “It broke me,” said Ms. McCarter.

Prison officials often say that strip searches are necessary to keep contraband, including weapons and drugs, outside of prisons. This is a worthy goal, but research suggests that strip searches don’t serve it. Modern technologies have proved to be more efficient and less dehumanizing, and ought to be more widely adopted by prisons.

Body scanners, similar to the machines used in airports across the country, allow prison officials to detect the presence of concealed items without requiring incarcerated people to undress. In recent years, red and blue states, including Ohio and New York, have purchased or expanded the use of body scanners in prisons and jails, recognizing that this technology offers a more effective and less invasive approach to prison security.

This presents a rare opportunity for bipartisan criminal justice reform. More states and prison officials must see these searches for what they are: a state-imposed violation, which some experience as a form of sexual violence, which costs states and local governments millions in lawsuit settlements, wastes hundreds of staff members’ hours and contributes to the dehumanization of incarcerated people inside American prisons.

Strip searches are a common feature of life in prison. Visits from loved ones typically end with the same procedure: A prisoner must remove every article of clothing. Turn around. Bend over. Cough. Suspicion by a guard also can lead to a strip search. Ms. McCarter estimates that some weeks, she would be subjected to half a dozen or more strip searches. Corey Devon Arthur, an incarcerated writer in a New York State prison, estimates that he has been strip-searched over 1,000 times during his nearly three decades in prisons and jails.