A California court has awarded $5.6 million in damages to Christina Cardenas, who was subjected to a strip search and sexual assault during a prison visit. USA Today and other media reported that the court ordered correctional authorities, two correctional officers, a doctor, and a hospital to pay the settlement. Specifically, the correctional authorities were ordered to pay $3.6 million, while the remaining amount is to be divided among the guards, the doctor, and the hospital.
Cardenas filed a lawsuit against the correctional authorities, claiming that on September 6, 2019, she was subjected to a strip search and was sexually assaulted during a visit to see her husband, who was incarcerated at California’s Tehachapi Prison. Her attorney claimed that the procedure included drug and pregnancy tests, as well as X-rays and CT scans, during which a male doctor sexually assaulted her.
The prison argued that they conducted the search based on a warrant. The warrant permitted the strip search only if contraband was discovered in her body through X-ray scans. Although no contraband was found, Cardenas was denied the opportunity to meet her husband. She reported that she was handcuffed during her transport to and from the hospital and was not allowed to drink water or use the restroom during the examination process.
Following the court’s ruling, Cardenas released a statement in which he noted that no amount of compensation could fully heal the pain caused by the sexual harassment incident in 2019. She said, “My motivation in pursuing this lawsuit was to ensure that others do not have to endure the same egregious offenses that I experienced.”
