Women in Victorian prisons are being regularly and routinely subjected to degrading strip-searches, this report from the Human Rights Law Centre has found.

This report calls on the Victorian government to end the practice of routinely strip searching women, and includes:

• Interviews with women who were previously imprisoned.
• Data obtained through freedom of information laws showing that in one year around 12,400 strip searches were conducted on women, producing only 14 items of contraband, mostly tobacco.
• Examples of jurisdictions, like the ACT and the UK, which only use strip searches as a last resort and when absolutely necessary, and rather employ modern technology, such as scanners and x-rays, to check for contraband.