ADVOCATES INVESTIGATE STRIP-SEARCHES

Advocates for prisoners have raised concerns after hearing allegations that
low-risk female inmates were strip-searched and forced to provide urine
samples as a group Sunday at the Birmingham Work Release Center, a
departure from the usual private drug tests.

The accusations come on the heels of a critical audit of the center, a
controversy over the accuracy of prisoner drug tests and the transfer of
the former warden because of management questions.

Attorneys for the inmates are investigating, and relatives are outraged.
"We've heard about this, and it causes us a lot of alarm," said Gretchen
Rohr, an attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights, which
represented female prisoners in a lawsuit settled earlier this year with
the Department of Corrections. "We're going to continue to ask DOC what
prompted this change in policy and practice."

Prisons spokesman Brian Corbett said the information he received was
different from the prisoners' claims. "No strip-search was performed in a
group setting per se, and no urine samples were given in a group setting,"
Corbett said.

Prison officials conducted searches in a large partitioned bathroom, he
said. "They were done one at a time behind partitions."

Cindy Ballis of Mobile said her daughter, Kali Berzone, was forced to
strip, squat and urinate into a cup in front other prisoners and officers.
She said her daughter won't even take aspirin for fear of the drug tests
and has never had a positive test.

"Kali's been in the system for a while and has not come close to having to
do anything like this. If you want a urine sample, there are other ways to
get it that aren't humiliating," Ballis said.

She said eight women were involved.

Berzone, 24, is serving time for third-degree robbery. She has spent about
16 months at the work release center and has been approved for parole. She
will return home Sept. 21.

Prisoners at the work release center are allowed to leave for jobs and
weekend family visits. The prisoners involved in the search Sunday had
returned from the Labor Day holiday. Corbett said prison officials had
reason to believe some women were bringing contraband, such as drugs, into
the center.

Audit critical:

Birmingham Work Release, Alabama's only work-release center for female
inmates, has come under scrutiny several times this year.

Most recently, a state audit criticized staff for unfairly disciplining
inmates and mishandling inmates' money.

The audit by the Examiners of Public Accounts was released in August. It
called on the department to stop making inmates pay for their own light
fixtures and cleaning supplies and, at times, medical care.

The audit also found that Warden Mary Carter disciplined inmates more
harshly than state policies allow. Corrections Commissioner Donal Campbell
transferred Carter in April, but he declined to release specifics, except
to say it was a personnel matter and concerned management issues.

Campbell also has launched an investigation of the entire department's
drug-testing policies after numerous inmates and their attorneys, as well
as some of the prison staff, complained about false positive results. Most
of those complaints came from Birmingham Work Release.

DOC is in the process of selecting and hiring an outside company to perform
the drug-test evaluation, Corbett said.