Sheriff: OK, Lawyers Can Keep Bras On in Jail Visits

Deputies say they were worried that wire would set off metal detectors
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 22, 2015 5:45 PM CDT
Sheriff: OK, Lawyers Can Keep Bras On in Jail Visits
   (Shutterstock)

Jail workers went too far in telling female lawyers they'd have to remove their underwire bras if they wanted to meet with clients, a sheriff said. At least two attorneys say they were told they'd have to remove their bras when entering the Cumberland County Jail in Maine because they set off the metal detector. The women refused to comply and left. Sheriff Kevin Joyce said it was never jail policy to turn away attorneys under such circumstances, and he told reporters that he won't let it happen again. "The policy is real clear: no weapons and contraband. It doesn't say anything about underwire bras," Joyce said.

"I appreciate that he recognizes that I shouldn't have to take off my clothes to see my clients," one of the attorneys, Amy Fairfield, tells the Portland Press Herald. The newspaper, which first reported the flap, said the metal detector policy was drafted by a jail administrator who was hired last year after several security breaches that included inmates escaping from maximum-security cells for sexual trysts and others smuggling drugs into the facility. The attorneys who were asked to remove their bras requested an apology. Joyce said he wasn't ready to apologize until an investigation was completed. (More strange stuff stories.)

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