*For starters I am not discounting the violation or justifying it of anyone subjected to this no matter what or how severe or who is doing it.
Anyway so what exactly is meant by the term cavity search? I had been lead to believe it was when the police, or jail guards, or immigration had probable cause to believe someone had contraband concealed inside a bodily orifice and would then go to a judge and get a warrant and then have a medical professional attempt to extract it. This seems confirmed by many accounts of immigration arrests for drug smuggling, and the recent media storm around the guy in New Mexico given a colonoscopy by harassing cops.
But in a thread here our local MD poster Quadgop (who works in a prison) said that he does not handle such searches, and that the prison security staff does.
It somewhat horrifies me to imagine that police and prison guards can essentially and unaccountably “rape” arrestees or prisoners at will, it would certainly be used as intimidation or revenge where if a judge and warrant and med professional was involved that would not be an issue as much.
EDIT:The NM guy was given a colonoscopy by a doctor in a hospital, after the cops claimed he was clenching his buttocks and got a warrant from a judge. Just to clear that up.
In New York, there’s a difference between a search and a frisk. A search is essentially looking for something. So a cavity search would be conducted by a security employee; he’s essentially going to have the prisoner spread his butt cheeks and the employee will look for contraband. Cavity searches are pretty routine. A cavity frisk is when somebody reaches inside the prisoner’s rectum to feel for contraband. These are rare events and they are conducted by medical employees.
I agree there’s a legitimate issue of medical skills here. But I don’t see why you assume it’s a “rape” if a cop or a guard is performing the same procedure a doctor or nurse would do.
Hmm I guess I had always heard cavity search referred to as a strip search, with cavity search implying some kind of penetration of an orifice.
When I said “rape” I meant in uncalled for situations, like used to humiliate or intimidate the person being searched. I guess in my mind it was crazy that cops, guards etc had the power to do a cavity frisk without involving a judge or med professional. I mean in the sense of potential abuse of power.
