STRIPPED OF DIGNITY
Searched at Rikers, then again illegally at court, suit says
Correction officers have been systematically strip-searching detainees in Manhattan criminal courthouses, even after they have already been thoroughly searched in their respective jails at Rikers Island, two new class action lawsuits claim.
Hundreds of people held in the jails were forced to undergo the allegedly illegal strip searches in small rooms and even hallways in the Manhattan courts since last October, the lawsuits assert.
The searches took place even after the men had been put through metal detectors and body scanners, pat-frisked and often had cavity searches in restraint chairs at Rikers before leaving for court, the lawsuits allege.
Anthony Johnson, 55, of New Jersey, described in a deposition how he had been repeatedly searched at his Rikers jail Nov. 16 before he was taken to the courthouse that day.
Then, at the courthouse, he was placed in a pen and then ordered into “closetlike room.”
“The officers called and said ‘two at a time’ and I was wondering what two at a time meant,” Johnson said in a deposition. “We were brought … to another little dirty area with partitions but these were either broke down or curtains were ripped to where it was no privacy at all.”
Darren Seilback, a lawyer representing Johnson and more than 400 current and former detainees in a suit filed July 12, said the practice of strip-searching everyone without specific justification is illegal.
“There is simply no legitimate, lawful justification for subjecting these individuals to the additional searches, which are patently unconstitutional,” said Seilback, of the firm Oddo and Babat.
“The searches serve no purpose other than to degrade and humiliate inmates who have charges pending, but have not been convicted of any wrongdoing. This practice must stop immediately.”
One of the other men who joined in that lawsuit was William Johnstone, 47, who died in the George R. Vierno Center at Rikers Island on July 15 — just three days after the strip search lawsuit was filed.
Johnstone, according to his May 26 notice of claim, was stripsearched at Rikers and then again at the courthouse on April 7, April 10 and April 24. “[He] was stripsearched in front of other inmates and on surveillance cameras,” the claim alleges.
Another plaintiff, Alim McCullough, claims he was stripsearched 17 times since October, the lawsuit states. Another, Sean Cooper, claims it happened 10 times. A number of the plaintiffs claimed officers threatened them with pepper spray or directed offensive remarks at them, saying they smelled or had “little d---s.”
Johnson, who described himself as a devout Muslim, went on to say in his deposition he was told to “strip down, bend over and squat.”
“I said ‘I’m Muslim, I’m refusing,’ ” he said. “They said you can’t refuse a strip search or there’ll be consequences. I took every piece of clothing off one at a time. It’s kind of hard taking your sock off standing up one foot at a time so it was just a very, very bad experience for me.”
Ex-detainees Raymond Lewis and Frederick Ortiz filed their own lawsuit in March in federal court in Manhattan, making similar allegations about illegal searches in the Manhattan courts.
Lewis, 67, claims he was strip-searched during seven court appearances, even after he was frisked at Rikers, put through metal detectors and a body scanner and a cavity search while strapped to a “Boss,” or restraint chair.
Once he arrived at the courthouse at 100 Centre St., he was put in a pen, then moved to a third-floor area where he was ordered to pull his pants down to his ankles, squat and cough.
An officer told him it was “procedure,” the lawsuit says.
“I felt violated and humiliated to be forced to go through an unnecessary strip search,” said Lewis, since released.
His lawyers Joel Rubenstein and Steven German say they’ve signed up “numerous” other plaintiffs in their case. They argue there is no “legitimate penological interest” to the secondary searches at the courthouse, their complaint said.
“The city shouldn’t be strip-searching pretrial detainees in the Manhattan courthouse when they were thoroughly searched before boarding the guarded and gated DOC transport,” Rubenstein said.
“There are constitutional limits on strip searches, and those being done in Manhattan do not pass muster.”
The lawyers in both cases say the searches are only taking place in the Manhattan courthouse, not in the courts of the other four boroughs.
Correction Department spokeswoman Shayla Mulzac declined to comment on pending litigation.
The city has paid out at least $95.5 million in settlements on jail-related strip search claims over the past 20 years, records show.
In 2001, the city shelled out $50 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging 50,000 illegal strip searches were conducted at Rikers Island.
In 2010, the city had to fork over $33 million to 100,000 people strip-searched after being arrested on misdemeanor and taken to jail between 1999 and 2007.
In 2021, the city coughed up $12.5 million to settle another strip search class action involving hundreds of visitors to the jails.
In 2019, six correction officers were charged with conducting illegal strip searches of women visiting the Tombs in lower Manhattan. Five were found guilty.