Most of the recent lawsuits against Blair County and its prison have focused on the living conditions endured by the inmates, but this week, two female visitors complained in a federal civil rights lawsuit they were forced to remove a portion of their underwear prior to entering the facility where they went to provide services for the inmates.

The lawsuit, filed in the federal District Court in Johnstown, involved an employee of Blair HealthChoices, working as a coordinator for the Stepping Up Program, which attempts to aid inmates with mental health issues.

The other plaintiff was an employee who was reporting to work as a licensed practical nurse with the prison’s medical department.

The complaint by the women was initially filed in the Blair County Court of Common Pleas by Philadelphia attorneys Larry Bendesky, Adam Pantano and Jordan L. Howell.

But the county, through its attorney Mary Lou Maierhofer, removed the case from Blair County to the U.S. District Court on Monday because the claims involve federal issues invoking violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution and an alleged Monell violation, in which the county is charged with failure to properly train its employees “concerning adequate visitor search policies.”

The incident that brought about the lawsuit occurred on Sept. 22, 2023, when the two women entered the prison lobby to go through the screening process.

According to the lawsuit, Sgt. Shawn Walters was overseeing the prison security that afternoon and a metal detector sounded as the employee of Blair Health Choices approached the machine.

She placed items she was carrying on a desk and tried again to go through the metal detector, but it again sounded an alarm.

She was then told to remove a sweatshirt she was wearing.

“Despite removing her sweatshirt, the metal detector was triggered,” according to the statement of facts in the lawsuit.

A female attorney who was in the lobby suggested that the triggering of the device was caused by an underwire in the woman’s bra.

Faced with that suggestion, the woman asked that she be wanded.

The prison employee declined that option and told her to remove her bra.

Walters then phoned his supervisor, Deputy Warden Shaun Edmundson, but despite the call, the woman was told again to remove her bra.

The lawsuit reported that the plaintiff was “unlawfully coerced to be strip searched.”

She was eventually allowed into the prison to complete her visit with an inmate, but was not permitted to wear her bra.

The woman “was forced to enter the prison with her bra in her hand, exposed to inmates, officers, sergeants in the prison,” the lawsuit states.

Minutes after the security staff had completed their search of the first woman, the LPN reported for work.

She, too, was required to endure the same routine and she, too, “was forced to remove her bra, pass through the metal detector, and walk through the prison holding her bra in her hand in view of the inmates.”

The lawsuit claims “that defendants (Walters and Edmundson) subjected the plaintiffs (the two women) to unlawful detention and strip searching amounting to malice, gross negligence and/or recklessness and or deliberate indifference to the safety of the plaintiff and plaintiff’s constitutional rights.”

More specifically, it stated the plaintiffs suffered “severe mental anguish, psychological and emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation, and pain and suffering” from their experiences.

It asks for in excess of $50,000 damages on each of six counts: two counts of unreasonable search and seizure, two violations of the Equal Protection Clause and two Monell violations.

The lawsuit claimed “Even on prison grounds, (the plaintiffs) had reasonable expectations of privacy in their undergarments.”

The lawsuit was the 12th filed against the prison in the last two months.

The chairman of the Blair County Prison Board, David Kessling, said he could not discuss the specifics of the many lawsuits, including the most recent by the two women.

But, he said county officials, including the preceding board of commissioners, recognized that something has to be done to address the many issues raised by the inmates and others, and he noted, “That’s why the Board has begun to look for a property to build a new prison.”

A consultant who studied the prison situation indicated that construction of a new facility would be the best solution, concluding an attempt to repair the present facility, initially opened 156 years ago, would be too costly, Kessling explained.

“We’re doing the best we can with what we have,” said the first-term commissioner.

The county thought they had a site for a new facility earlier this year, but nearby residents balked.

Kessling said the county has a possible new site that is under study.

The problems with the present facility were “left go too long,” he said.

“We want to be sure the staff are safe and the inmates are safe,” Kessling concluded.