A California woman received $5.6 million in a settlement after a traumatic cavity search during a visit to her incarcerated husband. Christina Cardenas, 45, was subjected to multiple invasive procedures at Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley Hospital on September 6, 2019, including strip searches, a cavity search by a male doctor, X-rays, CT scans, and drug and pregnancy tests. Her attorneys revealed that the search ended without finding contraband, and she was denied the chance to see her husband.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation agreed to pay $3.6 million of the settlement, while the hospital, a doctor, and two correction officers will cover the remaining amount. All defendants denied wrongdoing in the settlement. Cardenas also received a $5,000 reimbursement for a hospital bill she was charged following the invasive tests.
Cardenas stated that she pursued the lawsuit to prevent others from facing similar violations while visiting loved ones in prison. "My motivation in pursuing this lawsuit was to ensure that others do not have to endure the same egregious offenses that I experienced," she said.
The lawsuit highlighted that the officers had a warrant allowing them to search visitors of her husband, who has been imprisoned since 2001 for armed robbery. However, the warrant only permitted a strip search if X-rays detected any foreign objects in the visitor's body. Despite undergoing an X-ray and CT scan with no abnormalities found, Cardenas was subjected to additional intrusive searches.
Cardenas' attorney, Gloria Allred, a renowned women's rights lawyer, emphasized that Cardenas was made to strip and squat over a mirror, a procedure usually reserved for inmates. A prison official allegedly taunted Cardenas during the ordeal, saying, "Why do you visit, Christina? You don't have to visit. It's a choice, and this is part of visiting."
During the hospital transport, Cardenas was placed in handcuffs and claims she was denied water or bathroom use for most of the search. After the invasive procedures found no contraband, Cardenas was still barred from visiting her husband, Carlos Cardenas. She revealed that this was not her first invasive encounter; she had been strip-searched previously to marry her husband, who she met after he was incarcerated, but she noted the September 2019 search was the most distressing.
As part of the settlement, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is required to issue a policy memorandum to its staff, ensuring visitor rights are upheld during strip searches. This includes providing visitors with a copy of the search warrant and ensuring they understand its scope, as well as prohibiting searches that exceed the warrant's terms.
The settlement comes amid broader concerns about sexual abuse in California prisons. The Justice Department recently opened an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of female inmates at two state-run California prisons, while the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, dubbed the "rape club," was closed following a similar scandal involving correctional officers.
