Strip-searches in Australian prisons should be banned, advocates say

Strip-searches were almost “routine” during Sara’s incarceration in a Melbourne women’s prison more than eight years ago. A survivor of sexual abuse, she found being ordered to strip naked by guards deeply distressing. “It was very degrading and humiliating. I felt like I was being violated and exploited.

I felt quite disgusting, but I felt I had no choice,” she said, recalling that many inmates with histories of trauma felt compelled to comply to avoid consequences. An analysis conducted by the Human Rights Law Centre found an average of 15,154 strip-searches were performed in Australian prisons each month, with just 0.58% resulting in contraband being detected.

In youth detention centres there were an average of 317 strip-searches monthly, with a 4.32% detection rate. The data, obtained under freedom of information laws from six jurisdictions for periods in 2021 and 2022, forms the basis of a report calling for strip-searches to be banned.

Australia, Melbourne

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