Only with the CPT’s authorization and a nurse present. But that’s after they’ve been inprocessed. They’re dressed out in their jail scrubs and are check there prior to inprocessing.

As for municipal jails, long time ago I was with a county sheriff’s department and we stripped anyone who was going to be locked up. Didn’t strip anyone who didn’t go into a cell (some stayed in the booking area pending bond or something along that line). The main reason for strip searching was for safety and security, but we also charted any injury or tats and also noted that there were no visible injuries or tats. We started noting the lack of injury after some of the arrestees got into a fight after they got locked up and then claimed they were injured during arrest and didn’t receive medical attention. Now that I think of it, we once made an identification of a guy who died in a motorcycle wreck because of his tattoos. He had no ID on him and the motorcycle wasn’t registered, so all we had was a body. Long story short, his tats jiggled some memories and it turned out that he had spent some time as a guest of the county.

I work for the state now, and we strip search any inmate after they have contact with the public, before they leave the facility, after they get back, when they go to the hole, and sometimes when they haven’t been anywhere but we think they’re holding something (but we need approval from a supervisor for that last one.. we can’t just stop someone and strip them out). In our reports we use the politically correct term “unclothed search”. For the state we still chart tats and injuries as well as the lack thereof, and have used the charts to show they did NOT have a specific tat when they came in, which is obvious evidence of them getting a new tat after their arrival. And we’re constantly doing pat downs.

We sure do

Odaak,
What State do you work in?

We strip search everybody except misdemeanors who are going to bond before leaving our booking facility. We also strip search any inmate in confinement where we believe there might be contraband hidden. We also strip search during shakedowns. And we still find shanks!

We also do “unclothed” searches at various times when looking for new tattoos or injuries if a fight or assault is suspected.

The Sheriff’s Office I work for got sued for strip searching an inmate who was booked in and going to housing. We can’t even strip search inmates that come in from DOC. Those inmates are the ones who bring in the smokes. Now if we strip search an inmate we have to fill out strip search log in the computer and indicate what the probable cause for the search was.

The policy in our Facility is if the inmate is going to be housed past the booking area, they must have an unclothed search completed on them.If someone is going to book & release (as we call it) we just place them in a holding cell and wait for their bond or bail to arrive.
This is not only for contraband, but to look for injuries that may have occured during the arrest, to have a witness to the prisoner’s condition at booking in case they claim abuse by officer at a later time, etc. We also to unclothed searches on any prisoner that leaves the secured perimeter for any reason. Even if it is to walk across the hall to an interrogation. We never know if the inmate slips something into his waist band or sock as he walks by a desk or trash can.
You can never be too cautious or safe.

I’m all for the strip searches. after all It’snot just for keeping inmates safe, it’s to keep us safe too.

At my facility all inmates are strip searched after booking and after all contact visits.