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Virginia prison guards strip-searched an 8-year-old girl visiting her father - The Washington Post
Aunt begs for her niece’s safe return as Ansonia police keep searching for missing Ansonia girl - FOX61 Hartford
New local retailer Reign offers pretty, powerful fashion at East Memphis' Regalia - Memphis Business Journal

Virginia prison guards strip-searched an 8-year-old girl visiting her father - The Washington Post

Posted: 06 Dec 2019 08:52 AM PST

The shocking incident rang alarm bells for the girl's mother, civil rights advocates and Virginia Department of Corrections officials, who said the decision to strip-search the girl without her legal guardian's permission defied its internal policies. The incident also resurfaced a history of controversial strip-searches, which have scared, punished and humiliated children in other cases.

After the Nov. 24 search, the girl texted her mother and shared her anger over being forced to disrobe.

"Hey Mom," she wrote in a text published by the Virginian-Pilot. "Am so mad the jail had to strip me with all of my clothes off this doesn't make no [sense]."

Her mom responded with disbelief.

"Did they make you take your pants off?"

"Yes all of my clothes off."

The mother, who was not named to protect the identity of the girl, told the Virginian-Pilot her daughter has a good relationship with her father, but only because she can visit him every weekend. Now, she says she will not send her child back to the state-run prison. The girl has missed school because of her distress over the search, which has exacerbated her symptoms from bipolar disorder, depression and ADHD, her mother told the newspaper.

"She went through something that traumatized her," she said. "I'm not sending her back there."

The prison's policy calls for a strip-search of anyone singled out by a drug-sniffing dog. Refusing to submit to the search can result in the person being turned away from future visits. But that policy also requires a legal guardian's permission to strip-search a child, a DOC spokeswoman told the Virginian-Pilot. The agency said it was troubled that its guards forced the girl to undergo a strip-search without her mother present.

"It is deeply troubling and represents a breach in our protocol," Virginia DOC Director of Communications Lisa Kinney told the outlet. "We sincerely apologize to this child and her family and will be taking immediate disciplinary action against the person responsible."

Peerman told The Post a prison official called her on Dec. 2 to apologize, and let her know VDOC was investigating the incident.

Va. Gov. Ralph Northam said Friday he halted the policy that allowed the prison to strip search the girl and ordered an investigation into what happened.

"I am deeply disturbed by these reports — not just as Governor, but as a pediatrician and a dad," Northam said in a statement. "I've directed the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to suspend this policy while the Department conducts an immediate investigation and review of their procedures."

Civil rights advocates argue that strip-searches can be traumatic for children and corrections officers should avoid asking minors to take off their clothes for searches, especially when the child is simply visiting a relative.

"No child should ever be subjected to invasive, humiliating, traumatizing strip searches carried out by strangers to see their loved ones in prison," the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia tweeted Thursday. "Those responsible must be held accountable & VDOC policy must be changed so this never happens again."

The incident is not the first time a child has been improperly strip-searched.

In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an Arizona school's strip-search of a 13-year-old who was forced to take off her clothes and shake out her underwear during a search for prescription-strength ibuprofen. In Australia, police came under fire last month after revelations that they had strip-searched more than 100 girls, some as young as 12, while looking for drugs at music festivals and other popular events.

The Virginia DOC notes that it routinely catches visitors trying to smuggle contraband into its facilities, and law enforcement agents arrested a corrections officer last month after the prison employee allegedly smuggled drugs and tobacco in a body cavity. In September, the agency tightened regulations around who can visit prisoners to combat schemes to sneak illicit items into a prison.

The 8-year-old in Virginia was distraught when Peerman told her she had to choose between stripping off her clothes and not seeing her father anymore, Peerman told the Virginian-Pilot. She cried until two female guards led her and Peerman to a bathroom to perform the search.

The guards asked Peerman to strip first, then bend over and cough. Then, they asked the girl to do the same. The guards handed the 8-year-old's clothes back to her one piece at a time, the newspaper reported.

As she was dressing herself, one of the guards asked the girl how old she was.

"I just looked at her and I'm like, 'That's not even appropriate to be asking her right now,'" Peerman told the Virginian-Pilot. "Why would you ask that when she's naked?"

The prison guards did not find any contraband with the girl or Peerman.

After the officers were satisfied the pair did not intend to bring banned items into the prison, they were allowed to speak with the girl's father through a glass panel. The girl was not allowed to hug her dad during the holiday weekend visit.

Justin Jouvenal contributed to this report.

Aunt begs for her niece’s safe return as Ansonia police keep searching for missing Ansonia girl - FOX61 Hartford

Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:18 AM PST

HAMDEN -- Police are collecting evidence at a clothing donation facility business in Hamden in connection with Amber Alert issued for 1-year-old Venessa Morales, of Ansonia.

FOX61 sources say Ansonia Police received a call with a tip about the missing 1-year-old connected to the Community Crusade for Children kids clothing donation facility at 2135 State Street.

State police issued a new photo of the little girl and also corrected the spelling of her name.

State Police Major Crimes as also on the scene investigating with the police department.

It was confirmed by police Wednesday that woman who died was Venessa's mother, Christine Holloway.

The medical examiner announced Wednesday that Holloway's cause of death was blunt force trauma. Holloway was 43 years-old.

Sources say Morales' father was arrested in New Haven for illegal possession of a taser.

Venessa went missing from a home where police are currently investigating a suspicious death.

She is 2 feet tall and has brown hair and brown eyes. She weighs 17 lbs.

Ansonia police say they conducted a welfare check at home in town on Monday after a relative said they hadn't talked to the woman who lives there in a while.

Mayor David Cassetti said as far as he knows, the girl's mother was found dead in the home, in what is believed to be a domestic homicide. Police are waiting for the medical examiner to provide the ID. The little girl should have been at the home but was not there.

State police issued a Silver Alert for the girl Tuesday.

Police Chief Andy Cota III says the girl's father is at his parents' house in New Haven and is cooperating.

Wednesday evening, detectives could be seen walking up and down Myrtle Avenue in Ansonia They were talking with neighbors about the suspicious death of a woman and the disappearance of the one-year-old .

"Very sad," said neighbor David Chaney. "I hope they find her in good health. I hope whoever did it gets caught and pays a price."

Another man who lives across the street tells FOX61 the women had lived at 6 1/2 Myrtle Avenue for no more than a year and a half. He said she has always been nice and cordial. He just hopes whoever has the child does the right thing and returns her unharmed.

"As we have previously said our number one priority is to find Venessa," said Lt. Patrick Lynch of Ansonia Police. If she is somewhere safe we are urging whoever she is with to please contact us."

Police said the investigation into the murder and disappearance of Venessa has taken them to Stratford.

"We have no indication that she has left the state," said Lt. Lynch. "That is not out of the realm of possibility but we have no definitive information regarding that."

Authorities have received numerous tips from the public and are urging people to continue to call. They say no information is insignificant.

"This is not about punishing someone that may have her. This is about getting her and making sure she's safe," said Lt. Lynch.

The father of the child has been interviewed by the police and is cooperating. Police have not said if he is a suspect and have not provided information regarding any suspects.

If you have information to report you can call the FBI tip line at 203-503-5555 or contact Ansonia police Ansonia Police at (203) 735-1885.

41.383878 -72.902606

New local retailer Reign offers pretty, powerful fashion at East Memphis' Regalia - Memphis Business Journal

Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:55 PM PST

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