Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice has certified a class-action lawsuit alleging that Canadian authorities illegally strip searched federal inmates hundreds of thousands of times over three decades.
The statement of claim filed against the government accuses prison officials of inappropriate conduct, seeks an end to searches that are not authorized by federal law and seeks compensation for victims.
While laws currently dictate that strip searches should be limited to instances when an inmate might have had access to drugs or other contraband, the lawsuit alleges they were far more frequent, and regularly occurred when inmates left prison buildings or secure areas, entered family visitation rooms or were transferred to different facilities….