Strip searches at state-run center in Pueblo violated disabled residents rights, suit alleges

The constitutional rights of intellectually disabled people at a state-run center in Pueblo were violated when officials strip searched them to determine whether they had been abused, a lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of 18 residents alleges.

“There was no reasonable, or even arguably reasonable, justification for the grossly intrusive and coercive manner in which the searches were conducted, or their extremely sweeping breadth,” the lawsuit filed in Pueblo County District Court states.

In March 2015, the Colorado Department of Human Services strip searched 62 residents at the Pueblo Regional Center for the severely intellectually disabled. The state’s public health department later determined the searches “resulted in disregard of individual rights including privacy, dignity and respect” and “resulted in individuals being scared and confused and some remained agitated days after the inspections took place.”

DHS spokeswoman Laura Morsch-Babu said officials were still reviewing the lawsuit and would have no comment.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/2016/12/14/pueblo-regional-center-strip-searches-lawsuit/