The Bar Association received a number of testimonies about controls at remand prisons and secure facilities differing and being perceived as excessive and integrity-violating, particularly by female lawyers.
Several have recounted events where they had to undress and put on a morning gown, only to then go out into the same waiting area as other visitors and pass through security checks with their bra in hand.
"What some lawyers, particularly female lawyers, have had to go through in security checks is unacceptable," says the Bar Association's Secretary-General Mia Edwall Insulander in a comment.
Following the complaints, the association contacted the Prison and Probation Service, which, after dialogue with the association, has now developed new national guidelines.
"This clarifies what measures are necessary and under what circumstances. We will, of course, follow up on how this turns out and we are pleased that there is a shared understanding with the Prison and Probation Service on how security checks should be conducted," says Edwall Insulander.
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