Woman suffered hours-long cavity search while visiting husband in prison. Now she’s won a $5.6m payout

A California woman, subjected to an hours-long cavity search while visiting her husband in prison, has won a $5.6million settlement, her attorneys said Monday.

Christina Cardenas was stripped, X-rayed and forced to squat over a mirror while visiting her spouse, Carlos Eugene Cardenas, at the California Correctional Institution (CCI) in Tehachapi in 2019, where he was serving time for armed robbery, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Cardenas made the four-hour drive to the CCI facility and arrived at 8:30am on September 6, 2019 for a scheduled visit with her husband.

She had attempted to visit a month earlier but it had been cancelled without notice, according to Cardenas' original complaint from June 2020.

The events that followed, according to the document, were described as "harrowing and unlawful".

As she entered the facility, Cardenas was asked about contraband but told officials that she had not "brought anything in” and denied consent to being searched.

“Oh wipe away your tears!” one officer shouted at the “visibly distressed” Cardenas, according to the complaint. “You know what you and your husband have been doing!”

She was then "unlawfully examined" by two female officers, who looked in her mouth, ears and hair, according to the complaint.

Unable to find anything, the officers then subjected Cardenas to a strip search, during which she was forced to remove her clothing "piece by piece" until she was completely exposed, her lawyers said.

She then had to squat over a mirror placed on the ground and cough. When no contraband was found, she was ordered to widen her legs and spread her own genitalia.

It was only at this point that Cardenas, who was also denied water and access to a restroom, was allowed to get dressed, according to the complaint.

Althought the most extensive, this was not the first time Cardenera was subjected to a strip search while visiting her her husband, having undergone one in a previous visit to marry him.

She was then transported to Adventist Medical Center Tehachapi where she was restrained in handcuffs, forced to take a pregnancy test, X-Rayed and suffered "forceful penetration" as a male doctor used "grabbing motions with fingers" to examine her vagina and anus, according to the lawsuit.

In the journeys to and from the medical center, she had to do a “humiliating perp walk” while still in handcuffs.

She was then taken back to the CCI facility, where she was told her visit with her husband had been cancelled.

"My motivation in pursuing this lawsuit was to ensure that others do not have to endure the same egregious offenses that I experienced," Cardenas said.

Of the $5.6m settlement, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will pay $3.6m, according to CBS News, and the rest will be paid by other defendants including two individual correctional officers, a doctor, and the Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley hospital.

The lawsuit settlement also requires California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to distribute a policy memorandum to employees that better protects the rights of visitors subjected strip searches, including ensuring the search warrant is read and understood by the visitor, that the visitor receives a copy of the warrant, that the scope of the warrant is read and understood by everyone involved, and the scope of the warrant is not exceeded.

Cardenas is not alone in what she experienced from correctional officers, Cardenera’s attorney Gloria Allred said, who added that she hopes this case will help to protect the rights of spouses and family members visiting their loved ones in prison.

With additional reporting from the Associated Press