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Stripping the Self Away: Security, Control, and Punishment in the Practice of Strip Searches in Spanish Prisons

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Abstract

This chapter analyzes the functions of strip searches in Spanish prisons from a criminological perspective. First, it briefly describes the regulation of body searches as security measures and the standards set to protect prisoners’ fundamental right to personal privacy, especially during strip searches. Secondly, the practice of body searches is examined. Drawing on original data from Catalan prisons, it is shown that strip searches are used extensively, usually in a routinary, non-individualized manner, are overused in high-security units, and lead to few positive results. Moreover, an analysis of NPM Annual Reports demonstrates that certain standards, such as avoiding that the person is completely naked during the strip search, are frequently infringed. The chapter goes on to question whether strip searches truly address specific security risks or serve a different purpose. Lastly, I conclude by arguing that, in Spanish prisons, strip searches are used as a form of general prevention and control, and that the systematic targeting of high-security prisoners has a punitive character. FREE TO READ AT https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/978-3-031-20451-7_9?sharing_token=A7kQMT15ppH7EafxRNWXl
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... This result is in line with findings reported by Ross et al. (in preparation) that both officers and inmates considered scanning was no more effective for detecting drug-related contraband than strip searches, but scanning was preferred as it was a more pleasant process. While data on exact numbers of strip searches were not available, the incidence of scans and incidents observed in this study gives an indication of how scanners are displacing a potentially large amount of strip search activity, and in turn the potentially negative experiences people in prison have previously reported with respect to strip searches (see for example: Guerri, 2023;McCulloch & George, 2008;QHRC, 2023). ...
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Rationale In the era of the #MeToo movement, sexual assault has emerged from the shadows to become a dominant topic of public and scholarly conversation. Yet women in prison have largely been left out of these conversations, particularly as it relates to their experiences of being strip searched. Method Five cisgender women were interviewed about their experiences being strip searched while imprisoned in Canada. Findings Findings demonstrate that strip searching is a form of sexual assault. Women were unable to say “no” to being strip searched due to power imbalances and fear of serious consequences. Experiences of prior sexual victimization made being strip searched particularly harmful. Discussion This study shows that structural violence occurring behind prison walls is a replication of structural violence occurring in the community. That strip-searching policies and practices are developed and implemented by the state necessarily means it is state-inflicted sexual assault. I theorize that strip searching is not understood as sexual assault because imprisoned women are relegated to a class of subhumanness for which humane treatment is not required. Implications Implications for reducing the harms of strip searching are discussed, aimed at moving toward the abolishment of strip searching as a practice in women’s prisons.
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In this article, I explore the routinized practices of prisoner discipline: searching bodies and cells in four Canadian federal women’s prisons. Through an analysis of post-search reports as well as reported incidents of use of force, I discuss three key findings: searching and confiscation patterns across institutions are not dictated by size of the inmate population or security level of the institution; the redaction of information by prison authorities is an increasing and pervasive tactic of penal governance legitimated through an inter-legality of privacy and security; and that the searching of prisoner bodies and cells suggests a highly discretionary use of searching authority across women’s federal prisons that produces a gendered organizational logic. The text of the reports implies how women prisoners continue to be censured for their errant behaviour through the confiscation of personal items deemed to be unauthorized. These data also illustrate the ways in which women prisoners seek to achieve agency and self-determination within limited means.