Blair County has asked a federal judge to dismiss a civil rights complaint by two female visitors who claimed they were forced to undergo strip searches before being allowed to enter the Blair County Prison to visit with inmates.

The incidents occurred on Sept. 22, 2023, when the women came to the prison.

One of the visitors was an employee of Blair HealthChoices, serving as a Forensic Case Management Coordinator for the Stepping Up Initiative, a program to reduce the number of mentally ill inmates behind bars.

The lawsuit stated that she was a regular visitor to the prison, and that morning she had emailed prison authorities of her intended visit.

In her email, she named the inmate she planned to see.

The other woman was a licensed practical nurse for Favorite Health Care Staffing, an agency that provides personnel when needed at the prison.

She came to the facility that day to work an afternoon shift.

The HealthChoices coordinator arrived at 1:15 p.m. and attempted to pass through a metal detector which went off.

She was carrying many items and, upon placing them on a nearby desk, she once again attempted to go through the detector. It sounded again.

She claimed the sergeant on duty “demanded” she remove a sweatshirt she was wearing, which she didn’t want to do because underneath she was wearing a see-through white tank top.

She asked to be wanded, but she claimed the officer still insisted she remove her sweatshirt.

Despite removing her sweatshirt, the detector was triggered again.

A female attorney in the prison lobby suggested the problem may be an underwire in her bra that was setting off the detector.

She confirmed that may be the problem, and the officer, it is alleged, demanded she remove her bra.

According to the lawsuit, she was “shocked, humiliated and embarrassed” at the request.

The complaint stated she was forced to carry her bra “through the prison in direct view of inmates and other staff.”

The nurse arrived at 1:30 p.m. for her job with the medical department, and upon triggering the metal detector, it is alleged she was told to remove her bra.

It is charged that the nurse was “unlawfully coerced to be searched, and was also forced to remove her bra and forced to walk through the prison.”

The lawsuit, filed in October and amended in early November, contended the women “were discriminated against and treated differently by (prison staff) on the basis of their sex, female.”

The petition, filed by Philadelphia lawyers Christine Prisco, Jordan Howell and Larry Bendesky, asks damages in the amount of $50,000 on each of six counts, that include charges of unreasonable search and seizure, violation of the equal protection laws and lack of training by the county of its employees.

The county this week, in a petition filed in the U.S. District Court in Johnstown by Hollidaysburg attorney Mary Lou Maierhofer, stated, “It is specifically denied that either of the Plaintiff’s civil rights were violated under the facts and circumstances (outlined in the complaint).”

The officer and his supervisor providing security that day were “to ensure the safety of the staff, facilities and inmates,” it was explained.

“The very actions of the Plaintiffs while trying to clear the detector were concerning as evidenced by the prison lobby video,” according to the county’s answer.

The county denied the women were subject to strip searches and it was stated, “”it is specifically denied the policies of the County were improper.”

In addressing the complaint involving the first woman, the county denied that the officer manning the detector demanded she take offer her sweatshirt.

While the officer suggested her “baggy sweatshirt” may have come in contact with the detector, he “never suggested or requested, let alone demanded (she) remove her sweatshirt as evidenced by the prison lobby video,” the answer stated.

It was the woman, who on her own volition, decided to take off her sweatshirt, the county argued.

She also took her bra off on her own volition after the suggestion by the female attorney that the problem occurred due to a wire in her bra, the answer continued.

The nurse also “took off her outer garment without the (officer) requesting, ordering and/or demanding it be removed,” the county contended.

“By way of further response, it is specifically denied that either of the Plaintiffs’ civil rights were violated under the facts and circumstances,” stated the county’s petition.

The county concluded that the officer operating the metal detector and his supervisor that day “acted in objectively reasonable and legally permitted manners.”

U.S. District Judge Stephanie L. Haines is overseeing the case and will determine if the lawsuit can move forward.