Shah Ronak S. via Wikimedia Commons

When J’Allen Jones refused to comply with a strip search in March 2018, multiple correctional officers pepper-sprayed and forcefully restrained him for a half-hour period, resulting in his death.

For Barbara Fair, who heads the criminal justice organization Stop Solitary CT, Jones’ death illustrates the dangers of routine strip searches in Connecticut prisons. 

“They say it’s about safety and security, but we know it’s about power and control,” Fair said. “It’s a tool of degradation that they’ve been able to use all these years.”

Fair and Jorge Camacho LAW ’10, policy director of the Justice Collaboratory at the Yale Law School, emphasized the negative psychological impacts of strip searches on incarcerated people. A Juvenile Law Center fact sheet on strip searches notes that the practice can lead to anxiety, depression and “other lasting emotional scars,” particularly for youth.

The most invasive form of strip searches is cavity searches, which the Connecticut Department of Correction, or DOC, defines as manual examinations of an incarcerated person’s mouth, nose, ears, genitals or rectal areas. Cavity searches are carried out if correctional staff have “reasonable suspicion” that an incarcerated person is carrying contraband like drugs or weapons. 

Both Fair and Camacho noted that cavity searches are especially psychologically damaging for incarcerated individuals.

Ashley McCarthy, the DOC’s director of external affairs, stressed that cavity searches “almost never happen.” These searches are carried out by medical professionals, rather than correctional staff, and require the approval of the DOC deputy commissioner to be carried out. 

“It’s an uncomfortable practice, but it serves a function of safety and security inside the facilities,” she said.

Although Camacho acknowledged that cavity searches are rare, he argued that strip searches can sometimes be just as invasive. He noted that incarcerated people may be asked to bend over or “squat down and cough” during strip searches, allowing correctional staff to examine their genitals for contraband.

Advocates push for body scanner implementation

Fair and other criminal justice advocates have long fought to end routine strip searches in Connecticut prisons. This advocacy prompted the state legislature to introduce a bill in 2023 that would raise the bar for performing strip searches from “reasonable suspicion” to “probable cause” that an individual is carrying contraband. 

In May 2023, Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law a revised version of the bill, which required DOC Commissioner Angel Quiros to complete a report on the cost of using body scanning machines — X-ray machines that detect contraband on the body — in prisons. Legislators argue that the machines would reduce the need for strip searches.

The DOC completed its report on Jan. 30, 2024, according to McCarthy. The report proposed purchasing 26 body scanners — two for each of Connecticut’s correctional facilities — and placing them in locations where strip searches tend to be performed: admitting and processing areas, visiting rooms and restrictive status programs. Purchasing and installing all 26 machines would cost over $4 million, the report estimated.

Fair and Camacho voiced support for the implementation of body scanners in prisons, though they acknowledged some of the machines’ limitations.

Camacho pointed out that body scanners have produced false positives in the past, requiring strip searches to be carried out. In 2019, a Virginia correctional staffer was fired after a body scanner incorrectly detected her tampon as contraband.

He also flagged the risk of radiation exposure for incarcerated people often passing through the body scanners. 

The DOC report proposed purchasing Intercept body scanners, which involve low-level transmission X-rays, limiting radiation exposure. Intercept scanners also keep track of the total number of scans for each person passing through the scanner, and can prevent additional scans from occurring if a person reaches the annual radiation dose safety limit.

Fair and Camacho also stressed that body scanners aren’t a permanent solution, and called for lawmakers and DOC staff to cut down the number of strip searches performed in state prisons.

Camacho suggested that DOC officials implement more stringent policies around the use of strip searches, such as requiring multiple officials to come to a consensus about whether a search is necessary. 

“It’s about controlling the process and reducing the opportunities for abuse,” he said.

Since the DOC finalized its report early last year, the state legislature hasn’t introduced any legislation that would fund the implementation of the DOC’s 26 requested body scanners in prisons. 

In January, State Sen. John Kissel introduced a bill that would implement body scanners in the public entrance areas of prisons, which is separate from the proposed locations for scanners laid out in the DOC report. Kissel did not respond to multiple requests for comment about his bill.

The Connecticut legislative session will adjourn on June 4, 2025.