The "Ofer" Prison Administration forces Palestinian Women to Strip Completely Naked as a Condition to Visit their Incarcerated Relatives

In a letter to the Israel Prison Service (IPS) and the Ofer prison administration dated 1 September 2009, Adalah demanded that they immediately stop the humiliating physical inspection practiced by the Ofer prison administration towards the Palestinians, specifically residents of East Jerusalem, as a condition of entry to visit their relatives who are incarcerated in the prison.

Adalah Attorney Abeer Baker sent the letter on behalf of two women from East Jerusalem, who refused to comply with this humiliating and degrading condition and thus were forced to relinquish visiting their relatives in prison. The two women went to visit their relatives in Ofer prison and after undergoing a strict inspection, one of the guards asked them to go to an adjacent room and strip completely naked. When they entered the room, the two women found it had a window to another room, in which prison staff representatives were sitting.  After a few seconds, one of the female guards, through a loudspeaker, ordered them to strip completely, but the two women refused.  Then one of the female guards entered the room and told the two women that they would be strip searched as a condition for entering the prison or they would not be allowed to enter.  The two women chose not to enter and returned to their homes.  This incident was repeated each time the two women applied to the prison to visit their relatives, and every time they chose to return to their homes and not strip.

The two women said that this is a widespread phenomenon that affects many Palestinian families from East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and they know many women who have had to succumb to this in order to visit their incarcerated children.

In the letter, Adalah argued that the naked body searches are illegal, except in rare and special cases when there is suspicion, for example, that the person is smuggling drugs or weapons on his/her body. In this case, mandating a total naked body strip search violates the women’s right to privacy and dignity, as well as the right of the prisoner to a family visit.  Prison visits have become associated with violation of the sanctity of the visitors who arrive at the prison after enduring the fatigue of travel and the humiliation of inspection and the barriers.
 
In past cases, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the suspicion that would legitimize physical inspection must be objective and based on facts and not just a feeling. These rulings indicate that the court demands that prison authorities refrain as much as possible from the use of strip searches. In addition, the European Court of Human Rights stipulates the need to systematically prohibit this type of inspection and resort to it only in extreme circumstances.