cannabisnews.com: School Search Under Fire





School Search Under Fire
Posted by FoM on November 18, 1999 at 21:38:41 PT
By Lisa Tutman
Source: MSNBC
Nearly two dozen female students at Lincoln Park High School are complaining they were inappropriately touched during a recent search. At least one parent says she may consider legal action.
When students arrive at Lincoln Park High School, they expect to go through a metal detector. But some girls say on Tuesday they got something they didn’t expect.  “They had me against the wall,” said student Nace Prieto. “They pinned me down.”  The search involved female security searching female students, all part of a random full search requested by the local school council and the school principal.   Lincoln Park school officials said this was the second such “full metal detector search” conducted, the first this school year and the first that resulted in student complaints that they were violated.  “About twenty female students have made claims of being improperly searched,” said Lincoln Park Principal Janice Todd. “I’m in the process of following up to find out more about that.”  Chicago Public School guidelines stipulate that random searches be no more intrusive than necessary, and that an official of the same sex will conduct the search.   Parent Terri Meade said she may consider legal action after hearing her daughter describe the search.  “She said that she was violated, her breasts were groped, and her crotch was groped as part of a search...I was outraged,” Meade said.   While this latest search has produced complaints, Chicago police say the search produced something else too: 44 pagers, seven cutting instruments, and six incidents of marijuana possession.  Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas said his director of safety and security reported to him that “none of the officers involved in the Lincoln Park search deviated from standard procedure.”Published: November 18, 1999http://www.nbc5.com/
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Comment #2 posted by Scott on November 19, 1999 at 06:09:53 PT:
More about women in prisons...
"..prisons and jails in the USA emply men to guard women and place relativley few restrictions on the duties of the male staff. As a consequences, much of the touching and viewing their bodies by staff that women experience as shocking and humiliating is permitted by law"Source: Amnesty International, "Not part of my sentence:" Violations of the HUman Rights of Women in Custody, Washington, DC. Amnesty international (1999, March). p.39."Many women in prisons and jails in the USA are victims of sexual abuse by staff, including male staff touching inmates breasts and genitals when conducting searches; male staff watching inmates while they are naked; and rape."Source: Amnesty International, "Not part of my sentence:" Violations of the HUman Rights of Women in Custody, Washington, DC. Amnesty international (1999, March). p.39."In 1997 a US Justice Department investigation of womens prisons in Arizona concluded that the autorities failed to protect women from sexual misconduct by correctional officers and other staff. The misconduct included rape, ssexual relationships, sexual touching and fondling, and "without good reason, frequence, prolonged, close up and prurient viewing during dressing, showing and use of toilet facilities" (CIV97-476, US District of Arizona."Source: Amnesty International, "Not part of my sentence:" Violations of the HUman Rights of Women in Custody, Washington, DC. Amnesty international (1999, March). p.38"The most serious offense for 40% of women in state and federal prisons is the violation of drug laws. From 1986 (the year mandatory sentencing was enacted) to 1996, the number of women sentenced to state prison for drug crimes increated a ten fold (from around 2,370 to 23,700) and has been the main element in the overall increase of women in prsion".Source: Amnesty International, "Not part of my sentence:" Violations of the HUman Rights of Women in Custody, Washington, DC. Amnesty international (1999, March). pgs. 18,26One last fact that is somewhat unrelated that I will mention, just because it sickens me:Offense and average time servedMurder/manslaughter 153 monthsDrugs        78 monthsRape         67 monthsBurglary       51 monthsAggravated Assualt  50 monthsAuto Theft      37 monthsSource: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1996, Washington DC: US Government Priting Office (1997). pg. 20. Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the White House, National Drug Control Strategy 1997, Budget Summary, Washington DC: US Government Priting Office (1997), p. 111.So a man or woman who grows marijuana in their closet for personal use is likely to get more jail time then someone who rapes your daughter or steals your car.Scott
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Comment #1 posted by observer on November 19, 1999 at 05:23:09 PT
standard procedure ... for prison
> “none of the officers involved in the Lincoln Park search deviated from standard procedure.”"standard procedure" for what? A prison?Not to worry! The police state is simply preparing your daughters for what your daughters will find when they are imprisoned by the police state. . .``In some prisons, she said she was told that "at least two-thirds of the female inmates have been sexually or physically abused." Rape, Coomaraswamy said in her report, was a "fairly rare phenomenon." More frequent, she added, was "sex in return for favors, or consensual sex." In addition, she said she found "sanctioned sexual harassment" to be prevalent, and described such incidents as "women being pat-frisked by men and monitored in their rooms and in the showers by male corrections officers."''http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n364/a03.html
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