Criminal Justice

Lawyer’s Bra Troubles Jail Guards, Who Bar Client Visit

  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Print

Lawyer Brittney Horstman’s experience with a bra and a metal detector kept her from visiting a jailed client earlier this month.

Horstman wasn’t allowed into the Miami Federal Detention Center because her underwire bra set off the metal detector, the Miami Herald reports. After a visit to the restroom, she returned without her bra, but this time she wasn’t allowed into the jail because of the prison dress code.

Horstman, a former public defender now in private practice, complained about her June 4 experience in an e-mail to a group of other lawyers, the story says. Apparently, the guards who kept her out of the jail weren’t aware of an arrangement worked out a few years ago in which women lawyers who set off the metal detector are allowed entry if an inspection with a wand shows their bras are the source of the problem.

Michael Caruso, the chief assistant in the Federal Public Defender’s office, told the newspaper that warden Linda McGrew “conducted her own inquiry, she resolved the situation to our satisfaction and she said it won’t happen again.”

Give us feedback, share a story tip or update, or report an error.