Christina Cardenas, the wife of a California inmate, will receive a $5.6 million settlement after suing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) over a strip search incident.
Cardenas claims she was sexually violated during a prison visit to see her husband on September 6, 2019, at the Tehachapi correctional facility.
According to the lawsuit, Cardenas was subjected to multiple invasive procedures, including a strip search, drug and pregnancy tests, X-rays, and CT scans. She alleged that during the process, a male doctor performed an additional strip search, during which she was sexually violated.
“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.
The lawsuit highlights that the searches were conducted based on a warrant, which stipulated that a strip search could only occur if foreign objects were detected in her body through X-ray. Both the X-ray and CT scans, however, found no contraband.
Despite this, Cardenas was still strip-searched and humiliated further when she was handcuffed and made to undergo a “perp walk” to and from the hospital. She was also denied water and bathroom access during much of the process and was later billed more than $5,000 for hospital services.
Even though no contraband was found, Cardenas was not allowed to visit her husband. The lawsuit also mentioned a previous incident in which Cardenas was strip-searched when she visited the prison to marry her husband, although that experience did not escalate as much as the 2019 incident.
As part of the settlement, CDCR agreed to distribute a policy memorandum that outlines better protections for visitors subject to strip searches. The memorandum emphasizes ensuring visitors are fully informed about the search warrant and that its scope is clearly defined and not exceeded during searches.
Cardenas’ attorney, Gloria Allred, noted that this case is not an isolated incident, saying, “California prisons have a troubling history of sexual misconduct, and we hope this case will lead to better protections for family members visiting their loved ones in prison.”
The case comes amid broader scrutiny of California prisons. The U.S. Justice Department recently opened an investigation into allegations of systematic sexual abuse by correctional officers at two state-run California prisons.
