The wife of a California prisoner will receive $5.6m after being sexually violated during a strip-search when she tried to visit her husband in prison, her attorneys said Monday.
After traveling four hours to see her husband at a correctional facility in Tehachapi, California, on 6 September 2019, Christina Cardenas was subject to a strip-search by prison officials, drug and pregnancy tests, X-ray and CT scans at a hospital, and another strip-search by a male doctor who sexually violated her, a lawsuit said.
“My motivation in pursuing this lawsuit was to ensure that others do not have to endure the same egregious offenses that I experienced,” Cardenas said.
Of the $5.6m settlement, the California corrections department will pay $3.6m and the rest will be paid by the other defendants, which include two correctional officers, a doctor and the Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley hospital.