Correction Officers Illegally Strip Searched Jail Visitors: DA

LOWER MANHATTAN, NY — Female Department of Correction officers performed illegal strip searches on women visiting the Manhattan Detention Complex, the DA's office announced Monday after indicting the six women.

Former DOC captain Leslie-Ann Absalom, 53, as well as corrections officers Daphne Farmer, 49, Jennifer George, 32, Lisette Rodriguez 51, Alifa Waiters, 45 and Latoya Shuford, 36, were charged with performing strip searches of visitors at the jail, the DA's office announced.

Of the six women, four were also indicted for allegedly filing false paperwork to cover it up, the DA's office said.

"There is no excuse for violating the human rights of New Yorkers visiting our city's jails," Vance said in a statement.

"As alleged, these officers flagrantly abused their power when they ignored their training and subjected visitors to humiliating and unlawful searches," Vance said. "Further, they attempted to cover up their actions by forcing visitors to sign consent forms under false pretenses and repeatedly lying in official documents."

The DA's office said the women had been assigned to enforce procedures regarding inmates' visitors at the visiting area in the Manhattan Detention Complex — the Lower Manhattan jail commonly referred to as "The Tombs" where the city also plans to site a new "community-based" jail under its plan to close Rikers Island.

Officers have guidelines for searching visitors for contraband, including various protocol on how to conduct a "pat frisk," obtaining written consent and an option for a "non-contact booth visit" for visitors who don't want to be searched, the DA said.

But the women instead required visitors to take off their pants and underwear, touched women's breasts and examined their vaginal and buttocks areas, the DA's office said.

Four women — George, Rodriguez, Waiters and Absalom — filed false paperwork to justify the illegal searches, according to the DA's office.

"Stopping contraband before it enters the City’s jails is of paramount importance, but it cannot be done at the expense of visitors’ dignity, the law, and the Correction Department’s rules," Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett said in a statement.

The women were indicted in New York State Supreme Court in charges including misconduct, unlawful imprisonment, conspiracy, offering a false instrument for filing, and criminal possession of a forged instrument, the DA's office said.

The DOI also released a report Monday, detailing recommendations for visitor searches at the city's jails. The full report, which is a follow-up to the department's 2016 recommendations, can be seen here.