Cases

Wainwright v United Kingdom

Facts

The Applicants, a mother and her handicapped son Alan, attended HMP Leeds to visit another son Patrick who was being held on remand. The Governor had given an order that all Patrick's visitors were to be strip-sesarched as he was suspected of using drugs. The Applicants were separated and told that if they did not agree to the search they would be denied their visit. They reluctantly agreed. They were not asked to sign consent forms until after the searches were complete. Various breaches of procedure took place including the touching of Alan's genitals. Mrs Wanwright was severely distressed as a result of the strip search and Alan, who suffers from cerebral palsy and had a mental age of 12 at the time, sufferred PTSD.

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