American Prisoner
American inmate's wife to receive $5.6 million in settlement after she was sexually assaulted during strip search
An American woman will receive $5.6 million after she was sexually violated during a strip search when she visited a prison to meet her husband, media reports said.
The incident happened in 2019 at a correctional facility in Tehachapi city.
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 as quoted by CBS News.
"My motivation in pursuing this lawsuit was to ensure that others do not have to endure the same egregious offences that I experienced," Cardenas told the news channel.
Out of the $5.6 million settlement, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will pay $3.6 million.
The remaining settlement will be reportedly paid by 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 told CBS News.
The CT Scan and X-Ray did not find anything following the search conducted on the woman.
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, reported the news channel.
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