Cross-sex strip searches and "gender fluidity"

Muslim Male Inmate Objects to Strip Search by Apparently Anatomically Female Transgender Guard

Quote:

According to the plaintiff, when it was his turn to be strip searched, defendant Buhle, a female correctional officer, approached him and ordered him to strip. The plaintiff states that he asked defendant Buhle how she was able to do that and she responded, "I'm a dude." The plaintiff says he looked at the other correctional officers, "to see if this was a prank," but that they avoided eye contact with him. He alleges that at this point, he "started to panic because he knew that Officer Buhle was a female based on her female features (breasts, face, voice and demeanor) and that exposing his nakedness to her would be in violation of his Islamic beliefs …. The plaintiff indicates that "[i]t was later brought to [his] attention that Officer Buhle is a female claiming to be a male and therefore is afforded all of the duties that the male officers perform without discrimination." The plaintiff alleges that in anticipation of another encounter with defendant Buhle, he wrote defendants [GBCI Security Director John Kind and GBCI Warden Scott Eckstein] and requested an "[e]xemption from exposing my nakedness to the opposite sex ... because it is against Islam." On July 12, 2016, defendant Eckstein allegedly denied the plaintiff's request: "I have reviewed your correspondence and have also discussed your concerns with our Security Director. I have reviewed the situation and the officer in question is a male and is qualified to complete these duties. If in the future you are directed to submit to a strip search by this individual or any other male staff member it is my expectation that you will comply."

The Muslim part is apparently included because the lawsuit is based on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, but I find it pretty much irrelevant. The lawsuit could have been easily brought under the auspices of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 because the conduct appears to violate 28 CFR 115.15 (regulations implementing the Act) on its face. So, while this particular lawsuit is based on the inmate's religion, I would like this conversation to ignore it because there are other (more convincing, in my opinion) grounds for the lawsuit.

Thoughts? Should prison inmates be forced to take their clothes off in front of someone who is the opposite sex simply because they claim to "identify" with the other sex? What about people who have only been arrested and not convicted? Should a female arrestee be forced to take off her clothes at the county jail in front of a male officer who says, gruffly, "don't worry, I identify as a woman"?

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/2NiBT1f