C.F.R. » Title 28 » CHAPTER I—DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE › PART 115—PRISON RAPE ELIMINATION ACT NATIONAL STANDARDS › Subpart A—Standards for Adult Prisons and Jails

28 C.F.R. § 115.15

Limits to cross-gender viewing and searches

Read at: eCFRecfr.gov CornellLII GovInfogovinfo.gov CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) The facility shall not conduct cross-gender strip searches or cross-gender visual body cavity searches (meaning a search of the anal or genital opening) except in exigent circumstances or when performed by medical practitioners.

(b) As of August 20, 2015, or August 21, 2017 for a facility whose rated capacity does not exceed 50 inmates, the facility shall not permit cross-gender pat-down searches of female inmates, absent exigent circumstances. Facilities shall not restrict female inmates' access to regularly available programming or other out-of-cell opportunities in order to comply with this provision.

(c) The facility shall document all cross-gender strip searches and cross-gender visual body cavity searches, and shall document all cross-gender pat-down searches of female inmates.

(d) The facility shall implement policies and procedures that enable inmates to shower, perform bodily functions, and change clothing without nonmedical staff of the opposite gender viewing their breasts, buttocks, or genitalia, except in exigent circumstances or when such viewing is incidental to routine cell checks. Such policies and procedures shall require staff of the opposite gender to announce their presence when entering an inmate housing unit.

(e) The facility shall not search or physically examine a transgender or intersex inmate for the sole purpose of determining the inmate's genital status. If the inmate's genital status is unknown, it may be determined during conversations with the inmate, by reviewing medical records, or, if necessary, by learning that information as part of a broader medical examination conducted in private by a medical practitioner.

(f) The agency shall train security staff in how to conduct cross-gender pat-down searches, and searches of transgender and intersex inmates, in a professional and respectful manner, and in the least intrusive manner possible, consistent with security needs.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 7 cases (5 in the last 5 years), 2020–2024 · leading case: Rufus West v. Dylon Radtke, 48 F.4th 836 (7th Cir. 2022).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Rufus West v. Dylon Radtke, 48 F.4th 836 (7th Cir. 2022). · cites it 3× “, Sex, BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY (11th ed. 2019) (“The sum of the peculiarities of structure and function that distinguish a male from a female organism; gender.”
Davis v. Shinn (D. Ariz. 2023). · cites it 2× “§ 30307 ; 28 C.F.R. § 115.15 (a). Davis argues, among other things, that the 24 Formal Grievance he attempted to submit on May 27, 2020 fell under DO 802’s exception 25 for PREA violations because it alleged that Defendants unnecessarily strip searched him 26 in front of…”
Sonia Doe, a Pseudonym Vs. New Jersey Dep't of Corr. (new Jersey Dep't of Corr.) (record Impounded) (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2020). “NJDOC has adopted PREA, which prohibits "cross-gender pat-down searches of female inmates, absent exigent circumstances" and requires the facility to "document all cross-gender pat-down searches of female inmates" under 28 C.F.R. § 115.15 (b) and (c), and must be done in a…”
Seti v. Robertson (N.D. Cal. 2024). “” 28 C.F.R. § 115.15 (a). 14 These requirements are implemented within the California Department of Corrections and 15 Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) through the Department Operations Manual (“DOM”) Section 16 52050.”
Hari v. Stuart (D. Minnesota 2020). “(citing 28 C.F.R. § 115.15 ). Upon arrival at the Anoka County Jail, inmates are given an initial security classification based on various criteria, “including the severity of current charges, serious 2 Hari is now in custody at the Sherburne County Jail, awaiting trial in a…”
Crews v. The City of Ithaca (N.D.N.Y. 2021). “"); 28 C.F.R. § 115.15 (a) ("The facility shall not conduct cross-gender strip searches or cross-gender visual body cavity searches (meaning a search of the anal or genital opening) except in exigent circumstances or when performed by medical practitioners.”
Taylor, George v. Anderson, Theodore (W.D. Wis. 2021). “17(2)(b), which states that “[e]xcept in emergencies, a person of the same sex as the inmate being searched shall conduct the strip search,” and 28 C.F.R. § 115.15 , a Prison Rape Elimination Act regulation that bars “cross- gender strip searches” conducted by correctional…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.