Hi, Strip search was a good movie. It was right on point about how your civil rights can be abused by a overzealous government. But I want to point out another aspect of strip searches. I was sentenced to 15 years to life in a maximum security prison for a drug crime. The most inhumane treatment was that of strip searches. I painted a series on this subject which can be viewed at
http://www.15yearstolife.com/contraband.htm
summary of material -
This body of work below was produced in 1995 in response to the dehumanizing
nature of body cavity searches.
INTENT OF THE ARTIST: To give the general public a view of the dehumanizing nature of the prison experience Coming back from a visit with his mother a sadistic guard ordered Papa to bend over and spread his ass cheeks on 3 occasions to look for contraband in his anal canal. No contraband was found after the first visual search. But the guard insisted that Papa continue to bend over. Papa asked the guard what he was looking for. After the third search Papa refused to cooperate asking the guard to call the supervising officer. The guard told him to get dressed and return to his cell.
Papa then went to the law library to write a complaint and researched the issue. Papa discovered 20 pages of directives issued by the Department of Corrections on how guards should search the body cavities of prisoners. Papa was disgusted and decided to paint about this dehumanizing experience. He created automatic paintings and glued parts of the directives to them.
The six pieces of work were then confiscated by the administration when Papa tried to send them to the free world...
Best, Anthony Papa www.15tolife.com author of 15 To Life: How I Painted My Way To Freedom / Feralhouse
http://www.15yearstolife.com/contraband.htm
summary of material -
This body of work below was produced in 1995 in response to the dehumanizing
nature of body cavity searches.
INTENT OF THE ARTIST: To give the general public a view of the dehumanizing nature of the prison experience Coming back from a visit with his mother a sadistic guard ordered Papa to bend over and spread his ass cheeks on 3 occasions to look for contraband in his anal canal. No contraband was found after the first visual search. But the guard insisted that Papa continue to bend over. Papa asked the guard what he was looking for. After the third search Papa refused to cooperate asking the guard to call the supervising officer. The guard told him to get dressed and return to his cell.
Papa then went to the law library to write a complaint and researched the issue. Papa discovered 20 pages of directives issued by the Department of Corrections on how guards should search the body cavities of prisoners. Papa was disgusted and decided to paint about this dehumanizing experience. He created automatic paintings and glued parts of the directives to them.
The six pieces of work were then confiscated by the administration when Papa tried to send them to the free world...
Best, Anthony Papa www.15tolife.com author of 15 To Life: How I Painted My Way To Freedom / Feralhouse