State AG is investigating prison searches of lawyers wearing underwire bras
The civil rights division of the Massachusetts attorney general’s office is investigating complaints that women lawyers who wear underwire bras have been targeted for humiliating searches at two Norfolk prisons.
The probe was launched in response to a Feb. 24 complaint by appellate lawyer Patricia DeJuneas, who said she had trouble getting into MCI-Norfolk to see a client after her underwire bra apparently set off a metal detector. DeJuneas was initially told she would have to lift her shirt and shake out her bra, but was eventually allowed to enter after refusing to do so, reports the Boston Globe, which says it has spoken with four women who have been interviewed by the AG’s office.
In a March 6 response to DeJuneas’ complaint, the state Department of Correction said visitors henceforward will be required to undergo a pat search to gain entry if a staff member isn’t satisfied that an underwire bra, rather than contraband, may have set off the prison metal detector.
”Any pat search will not include asking the visitor to shake out the bra,” wrote Thomas Dickhaut, who serves as DOC deputy commissioner. He called potential prison contraband “a serious threat” and said “there have been past instances in which inmate visitors, including attorneys, have attempted to introduce contraband” into state prison facilities.
”This has been going on for so long, and no one has ever done anything,” attorney Angela Lehman, who said she had undergone a pat search, told the newspaper. ”I hope that they can make the DOC seriously change their policies, so we don’t have to go through this or dread going to visit our clients.”
Women lawyers in Florida and Maryland reportedly have experienced similar problems during prison visits.
Prosecutors in Massachusetts aren’t subject to such searches because they fall under an exception for public officials, the Globe reports.
