News (Media Awareness Project) - US CO: Group Strip Searches Banned After Lawsuit Against Job Corps |
| Title: | US CO: Group Strip Searches Banned After Lawsuit Against Job Corps |
| Published On: | 2000-03-02 |
| Source: | Gazette, The (CO) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-05 01:47:18 |
GROUP STRIP SEARCHES BANNED AFTER LAWSUIT AGAINST JOB CORPS
DENVER - The U.S. Labor Department has agreed to ban group strip searches
at Job Corps sites and will pay undisclosed damages to two victims of such
a search in western Colorado, the American Civil Liberties Union said
Wednesday.
Greg Whitehair, one of the lawyers who pursued the case for the ACLU, said
25 Job Corps workers were strip-searched at Collbran, near Grand Junction,
on March 30, 1997. The agency had received a tip that marijuana was being
smuggled into their barracks.
When the bus carrying the workers arrived, officials divided the men and
women into separate groups and strip-searched them two at a time.
One woman, Alisha McKay, was five months pregnant. She was told she would
be fired if she did not permit the search of her genital area, Whitehair
said.
"When the whole thing happened I was outraged and hurt that they had the
right to do that to my daughter," said LaNita McKay, Alisha's mother. "They
turned what should have been the happiest time for her, her graduation, and
ruined it. She didn't even want to graduate."
The program awards high school degrees to those who complete it.
Officials of the U.S. Labor Department in Washington, D.C., and Denver said
they had to research the case before commenting.
"It is unreasonable to search an entire group of young people simply
because government officials suspect that one of them might possess
marijuana," Whitehair said. "It is especially unreasonable to subject them
to the humiliation of a strip search."
The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of Alisha McKay and Carlos Trujillo.
Trujillo was ordered into a bathroom and forced to permit a search of his
rectum.
"No young people should ever have to go through what our clients endured.
This agreement will protect Job Corps participants in every Job Corps
facility in the country," said Susan Brienza, who worked on the case for
the ACLU.
Mark Silverstein, ACLU legal director for Colorado, said his organization
became involved after getting a letter from the McKays.
DENVER - The U.S. Labor Department has agreed to ban group strip searches
at Job Corps sites and will pay undisclosed damages to two victims of such
a search in western Colorado, the American Civil Liberties Union said
Wednesday.
Greg Whitehair, one of the lawyers who pursued the case for the ACLU, said
25 Job Corps workers were strip-searched at Collbran, near Grand Junction,
on March 30, 1997. The agency had received a tip that marijuana was being
smuggled into their barracks.
When the bus carrying the workers arrived, officials divided the men and
women into separate groups and strip-searched them two at a time.
One woman, Alisha McKay, was five months pregnant. She was told she would
be fired if she did not permit the search of her genital area, Whitehair
said.
"When the whole thing happened I was outraged and hurt that they had the
right to do that to my daughter," said LaNita McKay, Alisha's mother. "They
turned what should have been the happiest time for her, her graduation, and
ruined it. She didn't even want to graduate."
The program awards high school degrees to those who complete it.
Officials of the U.S. Labor Department in Washington, D.C., and Denver said
they had to research the case before commenting.
"It is unreasonable to search an entire group of young people simply
because government officials suspect that one of them might possess
marijuana," Whitehair said. "It is especially unreasonable to subject them
to the humiliation of a strip search."
The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of Alisha McKay and Carlos Trujillo.
Trujillo was ordered into a bathroom and forced to permit a search of his
rectum.
"No young people should ever have to go through what our clients endured.
This agreement will protect Job Corps participants in every Job Corps
facility in the country," said Susan Brienza, who worked on the case for
the ACLU.
Mark Silverstein, ACLU legal director for Colorado, said his organization
became involved after getting a letter from the McKays.
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