Forced strip searches in Minnesota prisons continue despite zero tolerance claims
Survivors and advocates say forced strip searches remain routine at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Oak Park Heights, calling the practice degrading and unnecessary despite the state’s stated zero tolerance policy for sexual assault. They are urging officials to replace strip searches with body scanners and protect the dignity of incarcerated individuals.
Allegations of sexual assault and humiliation continue to surface within the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Oak Park Heights. Despite the state’s claims of “zero tolerance” toward sexual violence, incarcerated individuals report that forced strip searches remain a routine and degrading practice.
Advocates and survivors are calling on Protect Minnesota, the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA), and Violence Free Minnesota to investigate and take a stand against what they describe as a form of state-sanctioned sexual abuse.
A firsthand account
On September 22, 2025, while speaking with a loved one by phone, I was suddenly approached by two correctional officers. They ordered me to hang up and return to my cell for what they described as a “shake down.” Moments later, I was directed to remove all of my clothing.
The fear and humiliation that accompany these “unclothed body searches” are indescribable. Refusing to comply would likely have resulted in the use of chemical agents, handcuffs, and possible solitary confinement. During these procedures, incarcerated individuals are forced to expose and manipulate their genitals while guards look on, a process that, by any reasonable definition, constitutes a sexual violation.
A contradiction in policy
Minnesota’s Department of Corrections displays “Zero Tolerance” billboards against sexual assault throughout its facilities. Yet the policy rings hollow when forced nudity remains an accepted form of control. If the state truly upholds zero tolerance for sexual abuse, then these practices must be abolished.
Strip searches of youth were restricted under Minn. Stat. § 241.0215, and body scanners have replaced strip searches in women’s facilities like Shakopee. Still, at Oak Park Heights, men continue to endure these invasive searches under the justification of “security.”
A call for accountability
Forced strip searches are not about safety, they are about domination and degradation. The refusal to use available technology such as body scanners signals a willful disregard for the dignity and humanity of incarcerated citizens.
Minnesota’s prison administrators must be held accountable. The continued endorsement of these procedures represents a failure of policy, ethics, and basic human rights.
A real zero-tolerance approach to sexual assault in Minnesota prisons must include the immediate end of forced strip searches and the implementation of body scanners across all facilities.
Read more about this issue at: https://spokesman-recorder.com/2024/09/04/strip-searches-minnesota-prisons.
Shavelle O. Chavez-Nelson is an inmate at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Oak Park Height.