‘Traumatic’ strip searches lead women in Queensland jails to avoid medical treatment and family visits, review finds

Contraband is detected in as few as one in 10,000 strip searches of women prisoners, the Queensland Human Rights Commission has found, while inmates call the practice ‘degrading’. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

Women in Queensland prisons are avoiding seeking medical treatment or having family visit to escape “traumatic” and “completely ineffective” strip searches, according to a review by the state’s human rights commission.

The review, published by the Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC) on Wednesday, calls for the procedure to be limited and eventually abolished, as prisoners and staff reported its dehumanising and counterproductive effects.

The QHRC found the practice was ineffective in making prisons safer, with contraband detected in as few as one in 10,000 searches.