When Christina Cardenas visited her husband in 2019 at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, she was forced to undergo a traumatic, hours-long cavity search that involved stripping, X-rays and squatting over a mirror, she said.
On Monday, Cardenas' attorneys announced a $5.6 million settlement of a lawsuit filed against the prison and hospital system that oversaw the search.
“There is no reward that can fully heal the pain caused by rape,” Cardenas said at a news conference on Monday.
The Times generally does not publish the names of sexual assault victims unless they come forward publicly.
The ordeal began one morning in September 2019 when she said she drove four hours to visit her husband, Carlos Eugene Cardenas, who is in prison in Tehachapi for armed robbery.
The conduct of the officers who searched her for contraband over the next several hours amounted to “state-sanctioned torture,” according to a statement from famed attorney Gloria Allred, whose firm represented Cárdenas.
Officers informed Cardenas that they had a search warrant and would conduct a body search, according to the lawsuit Allred filed against the California Correctional Institute, Tehachapi Adventist Medical Center and 10 other defendants.
When officers informed her of their intent to search her and her belongings, Cardenas began to cry, the lawsuit says.
“Oh, wipe your tears! You know what you and your husband have been doing!” one officer told her, according to the lawsuit.
“Don't tell me to wipe away my tears. I'm innocent and what you're saying to me is inappropriate,” Cárdenas replied.
Officers allegedly forced Cardenas to remove his clothing and “squat over a mirror on the floor and cough,” according to the complaint, and then to “squat further apart and pull his genitals apart.” No contraband was found.
Cardenas was then handcuffed and taken to Tehachapi Adventist Medical Center, where he arrived around 9:45 a.m.
A doctor at the medical center “unlawfully forced Christina to complete a pregnancy test” and then asked her about her medical history, “including her personal feminine health history and her mental health,” the lawsuit says.
He was denied food and water, and had to urinate in a urinal instead of being allowed to use the bathroom, according to the lawsuit. X-ray images were taken of him; the images showed no contraband.
The search warrant explicitly stated that without Cardenas’ consent, a body cavity search could be conducted only after X-ray confirmation of the presence of a foreign object inside her. She did not consent, according to the lawsuit, but the search was conducted anyway.
As Cardenas protested, the doctor performed “unwanted and forceful penetration into Christina’s vagina and anus” using a “grabbing motion” with his fingers, according to the lawsuit.
The officers took her back to the prison and told her she would not be able to see her husband. Her visit had been cancelled.
The California Correctional Institution and Adventist Health did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In response to the lawsuit, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation agreed to distribute a memo to its staff instructing them to be “more protective” of visitors subjected to body cavity searches.
The initial filing had requested an injunction to completely stop the practice of body cavity searches of female visitors, but that was not part of the settlement agreement detailed Monday.
Cardenas said he filed the lawsuit “to ensure that others do not have to endure the same heinous offenses that I experienced,” he said.
He stressed that prison officials must “treat visitors not as criminals, but with humanity,” adding that he hoped to be a “beacon” for other families of incarcerated people.
“It is crucial not to criminalize or victimize those who visit and support true rehabilitation,” said Cárdenas, wiping away tears.
