Woman Sues Bullitt County, Claims Minor Offense Strip Searches Are Illegal

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A proposed class action filed against Bullitt County, Kentucky and its jailer takes issue with the Bullitt County Jail’s alleged practice of forcing individuals arrested for minor offenses (or no offenses at all) to remove their clothing for a visual inspection of their bodies despite the absence of any reasonable suspicion that contraband (or weapons) is being concealed. The class proposed by the suit includes individuals who experienced the aforementioned treatment, which the case claims violates the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, between October 16, 2009 and the present.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff was arrested in December 2016 on a bench warrant for a domestic violence case in which she was the plaintiff and alleged victim. The bench warrant was issued over the plaintiff’s failure to appear in court and provide proof that she had attended a victims class. From the lawsuit:

“At the time of her arrest and booking, the plaintiff was a married, 49-year-old woman, with one child, with no tattoos, who had never been charged with a crime in her life, who had no history of violence or drugs, and for whom there could be no suspicion, reasonable or otherwise, she carried contraband in her body. She was arrested on a bench warrant, taken to the Bullitt County Jail, and, while there, she was taken into a room where she was told to remove her clothes, bend over, squat down, and cough. Being under compulsion of authority and violence, she complied.”