Transgender Male Guard Not Allowed to Strip Search Muslim Inmate

A Muslim inmate’s request that a transgender male guard not conduct mandatory strip searches on him because it violates his religious belief against ‘cross-sex’ strip searches must be accommodated, the Seventh Circuit said.

“A prisoner’s right to be free from highly invasive intrusions on bodily privacy by prison employees of the opposite sex—whether on religious or privacy grounds—does not change based on a guard’s transgender status,” the opinion by Chief Judge Diane S. Sykes said.

After Rufus West was visited by a friend at the Green Bay Correctional Institution, he was subjected to a mandatory strip search. One of the ...