Ending Strip Searching in Australian Prisons

Strip searching in prisons is an unnecessary, degrading and deeply harmful practice that should be banned in law by all governments, according to this report, released by the Human Rights Law Centre, Flat Out and FIGJAM.

Ending Strip Searching in Australian Prisons compiles lived experience accounts of being subjected to strip searching, alongside national data on the prevalence of strip searching in prisons. The report includes key findings that:

• there is no evidence of any relationship between strip searching and contraband detection – in some cases, hundreds of strip searches identified zero items;

• strip searches have been conducted routinely – with thousands of strip searches conducted across Australian prisons each month – but they rarely uncover dangerous items;

• less invasive alternatives like body scanners exist, but people in prison are routinely having their human rights breached by being subjected to strip searches;

• children are being forced to strip in front of adult prison guards; and

• the harms of strip searching compound the mass incarceration of First Nations people, who are disproportionately subjected to strip searches.