RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia Department of Corrections has decided to forbid state prisons from strip-searching minors after an 8-year-old girl was strip-searched in November.
The child was visiting her father at Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn.
She was accompanied by her father's girlfriend, Diamond Peerman, who said she and the girl were circled by corrections dogs, then told they had to be searched.
State authorities say the practice is against department protocol. Governor Northam even responded to the incident:
"I am deeply disturbed by these reports—not just as Governor, but as a pediatrician and a dad. I’ve directed the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to suspend this policy while the Department conducts an immediate investigation and review of their procedures," Northam said in a statement.
