Wife of California inmate wins $5.6 million in settlement for strip search
The wife of a California inmate will receive $5.6 million after being sexually violated during a strip search when she tried to visit her husband in prison, her attorneys said Monday.After traveling four hours to see her husband at a correctional facility in Tehachapi, Calif.on Sept.
6, 2019, Christina Cardenas was subject to a strip search by prison officials, drug and pregnancy tests, X-ray and CT scans at a hospital, and another strip search by a male doctor who sexually violated her, a lawsuit said.“My motivation in pursuing this lawsuit was to ensure that others do not have to endure the same egregious offenses that I experienced,” Cardenas said.Of the $5.6 million settlement, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will pay $3.6 million and the rest will be paid by the other defendants, which include two correctional officers, a doctor, and the Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley hospital.Prison officials conducted their searches on the basis of a warrant, which said a strip search could only be conducted if an X-ray found any foreign objects that could be contraband in Cardenas' body, her attorneys said.
However, neither the X-ray or CT scan found any evidence of such.She was also put in handcuffs in a “humiliating perp walk” while being taken to and from the hospital, and denied water or use of a bathroom during the majority of the search process.She was told she had to pay for the hospital's services and later received invoices for a combined total of more than $5,000.
Despite no contraband being found in any of her belongings or her body, Cardenas was denied her visit with her husband.One of the prison officials asked her, “Why do you visit, Christina? You don’t have to visit.
It’s a choice, and this is part of visiting," according to Cardenas.“We believe the unknown officer’s statement was a form of intimidation used to dismiss Christina’s right to visit her lawful husband during the course of his incarceration,�...