In September of 2019, Christina Cardenas traveled four hours to visit her husband Carlos Eugene Cardenas in prison. Before allowing her to see her husband, she was escorted to the back of the visiting office where she was interrogated and searched. Although, X-rays showed no trace of any foreign object or substances on her person, she was forced to do an intense strip search.
According to her Cardenas’ attorney Gloria Allred, she was “unlawfully examined by the officers, first by opening her mouth and sticking out her tongue, then by showing her ears and turning her head upside down to shake out her hair.” During this there was no contraband found.
Allred then said that Cardenas was told next to remove her top, sports bra and bra, she was also instructed to remove her pants and undergarments, leaving her “breasts and genitalia completely exposed,” the attorney said. And again no contraband was found on her person.
The officers also force Cardenas to squat over a mirror placed on the ground and cough, but continued to make her squat wider apart and physically spread her genitalia, says Gloria Allred.
During the search an officer said, “Why do you visit, Christina? You don’t have to visit. It’s a choice, and this is part of visiting”.
Now, five years after the incident and four years after filing a lawsuit against California Correctional Institution (CCI), the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR), and Adventist Health Tehachapi, Cardenas has won a settlement worth $5.6 million.
With that said, Christina Cardenas says she was not driven by the money but to prevent this from happening to someone else. “My motivation in pursuing this lawsuit was to ensure that others do not have to endure the same egregious offenses that I experienced”.
