Calif. prison officials examine strip-searches caught on video; Corona, CA

California corrections officials on Friday said they are investigating whether guards at a Southern California prison improperly watched video of female inmates being strip-searched.

The investigation arose after the husband of an inmate, during a visit earlier this month, noticed about six male and female guards gathered around a video monitor in the reception area for prison visitors.

The black-and-white monitor showed women being searched by female guards in a nearby room typically used for visitation.

“It's totally nude,” said Rick Stachowicz, describing what he saw on the monitors. “They're standing on their socks, reaching for the ceiling, lifting up their breasts. I was trying to look and not look.”

His wife, Christina, is in the California Institution for Women in Corona for a probation violation. The 2,100-inmate prison 37 miles east of Los Angeles is one of three women's prisons in the state.

Under corrections department rules, strip-searches are to be performed in private and are not allowed to be watched on a video monitor. Female inmates also must be searched by female guards.

Stachowicz complained to prison authorities and received an e-mail Feb. 4 from Capt. Dean Borders, who was responding on behalf of prison Warden Dawn Davison.

“This behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by the administration here at (California Institution for Women),” Borders wrote in his e-mail. “We pride ourselves on being the model for other female institutions to follow, and to have this occur in our visiting area is unfathomable.”

He said the matter was being investigated and that staff would be dealt with appropriately.
“Sincerely, I do apologize for the actions of our staff,” he said.

Borders said the visiting room would no longer be used for strip-searches. Since the complaint, inmates are being searched in restrooms or attorney conference rooms that are not under camera surveillance.

The video monitor also was moved from a table in the public reception area to a private office.
The visiting area is usually used for non-contact visits, in which inmates and visitors sit on opposite sides of a glass wall and converse via telephone. It was used to strip-search inmates returning to their cells when other areas of the prison were unavailable, according to family members of several inmates.

Contacted Friday, Borders referred inquiries to a prison spokesman.

Lt. Dennis King confirmed the room used for strip-searches was monitored by a camera and that the video monitor could be seen in the public visiting room. He said investigators are trying to determine if anyone was watching the monitor, as Stachowicz said.

Corrections Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said investigators have so far found no indication of wrongdoing after getting statements from guards and visitors.

The guards reported they only became aware that the images of the naked women were being shown on the monitor after Stachowicz brought it to their attention.

“No one was standing around watching this. It was 'Oh my gosh, the monitor was on,'” Thornton said. “The staff acted very professionally when they realized what had happened.”

Thornton and King said they did not know when the camera was installed in the visiting room that later was used for strip-searches. The husband of another inmate told The Associated Press it had been there about a year.

Thornton said the viewing monitor had no recording capability.

Stachowicz said he and his wife are considering suing the corrections department even though prison officials say they have made changes. He belongs to an advocacy group that lobbies for improvements in state prisons.

His wife is a mother of three who was sentenced to prison last year for a probation violation and is scheduled to be released in several months. She was among the women searched Feb. 2, when he said the guards were gathered around the video monitor.

“She's feeling progressively violated by it,” Stachowicz said.

State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who has pushed for prison reforms, said the response by corrections officials was inadequate.

“They can't just say, 'Golly gee, how did that get there?'” Romero said. “We don't invest $10 billion into corrections to run peep shows, essentially.

“These are not animals to be taken out in public for the entertainment of anybody.”

The matter also will be investigated by the prison system's inspector general, said Chief Deputy Inspector General Brett Morgan.