By Marilyn Montenegro
The problem was with her anus. If it had puckered in the right way it would have been OK, she would not have been cuffed and taped into her clothing and taken to the emergency room for X-rays, she would not have been so indelibly humiliated.
Judy, who had recently been released from prison after 20 years, described the incident in a flat, emotionless voice.
The Strip Search — Standard Procedure
It happened after a visit from a friend. As usual Judy was required to submit to a strip search when she left the visiting room. As usual, she was required to squat, spread the cheeks of her buttocks and cough.
This is standard practice in most prisons and jails. They claim that prisoners insert drugs, tobacco and even cell phones in their rectums so that they can be smuggled inside. Guards are trained that the anus, in the squat and cough procedure, will not fully pucker if a foreign object has been placed in the rectum.
Her Anus Doesn’t Pucker
When Judy squatted her anus did not pucker appropriately. Possibly because she was a model prisoner and a mature woman, or possibly because the ability to force a naked woman to repeatedly squat and cough provided a sense of power and control, the two guards responsible for the strip search did not rely on their own observations. They called other guards to watch the squatting and coughing and to help evaluate the extent to which Judy’s anus puckered. Eventually, after the process had been viewed, evaluated and commented upon by several other guards, a lieutenant was called to the viewing. He told Judy that she should admit to the attempted smuggling and remove the contraband. Judy insisted that she had not put anything “up my butt.”
Is She Smuggling Contraband?
Judy was handcuffed and escorted to the prison nurse who was asked to manually check Judy’s rectum for contraband. The nurse — a health care provider — refused.
The guards huddled together and after a short conversation that Judy could not hear, a guard approached her with a large roll of duct tape. Her pant legs were taped at the ankles; tape was wrapped tightly around her waist, brought down between her legs and back to the waist from both left and right sides. Cuffed and thoroughly taped, she was transported to the closest hospital.
The Community Hospital ER
Judy was frog-marched into the emergency room. Everyone in the waiting room stared at her in shackles and taped up; Judy was sure that they thought that she was a disgusting person who had committed an unspeakable crime. She felt overwhelming shame in spite of the fact that she had done nothing wrong. The waiting room was full, there were people on gurneys, some holding bloody towels, others an alarming shade of gray, but Judy’s guards insisted that she be seen immediately, ahead of everyone else. That made Judy feel even worse.
The Anus Was Wrong —There is No Contraband
When the ER nurse was told that Judy needed to be X-rayed because her anus did not pucker, the nurse was annoyed. She was required to perform the X-ray and did so while explaining that sphincter function often declines in people over the age of 50. She informed the guards that a partially puckering anus is not necessarily an indication of a foreign object in the rectum. She showed them the X-ray, which proved that Judy was not smuggling contraband.
The Guards Were Wrong —There Was No Apology
“You were lucky,” they said on the way back to the prison. It didn’t matter to them that Judy’s arms and wrists hurt as a result of the handcuffing, that the tight tape restricted the flow of blood to her feet, that the next day she would need to interact “appropriately” with the same guards who had commented on the functioning of her anus, that she had been publicly humiliated.
“No” she said when I asked. “No one ever apologized; they just said I was lucky.”
What Is Next for Judy?
Now Judy is expected to transition to the “free world.” She has 90 days in a transitional program. She will be required to participate in anger management, job readiness and victim awareness and other groups and to obtain employment within those 90 days. She will be required to report to the mental health unit at the parole office for evaluation because she was in prison for so long and she may be given psychotropic drugs.
No one is expected to ask her about the trauma she experienced as a result of being imprisoned, of losing the ability to protect herself and to be protected, of what it was like to live in a cage.
How to Think About This
How do we classify these acts? Had Judy been treated this way in another context it would be labeled physical and emotional abuse and the perpetrator subject to legal action. In prison, acts of abuse, in the context of ensuring that convicted criminals comply with regulations, are considered inmate management techniques.
Do we accept abusive actions as a necessary, if unpleasant, component of controlling the behavior of convicted criminals?
Do we expect those who have been abused in our name, by representatives of the State of California, to forgive us? Can we forgive ourselves?
The Women’s Council discusses a variety of ethical, practice and advocacy issues at its bi-monthly meetings held in the greater LA area. For date and location of the next meeting or additional information contact womenscouncil@sbcglobal.net or mujerista@All2Easy.net.
