20 women sue San Francisco over alleged mass strip search at jail

Twenty women filed a federal class-action lawsuit against San Francisco, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, the sheriff’s office and individual deputies over allegations that County Jail No. 2 subjected them to a mass strip search that violated their privacy, dignity and constitutional rights.

The complaint, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, centers on the women’s housing unit at 425 Seventh St., where the plaintiffs say deputies forced them to undress in a group setting and searched them one by one under armed guard. The filing alleges violations of the First, Fourth and 14th amendments, along with California state law.

The case sharply raises the question of whether jail policy was ignored inside one of San Francisco’s most scrutinized custodial settings. KQED reported that multiple women said they heard Sgt. Ibarra tell a deputy not to deactivate her body-worn camera during the searches, an allegation that, if true, would deepen concerns about both supervision and compliance with rules meant to protect people in custody.

Follow-up reporting framed the episode as a major civil-rights fight, with plaintiffs accusing the city and county of retaliatory and degrading treatment. Mission Local reported that women said male deputies laughed at them and filmed them with body cameras. Earlier accounts said at least 18 or 19 women were involved in the underlying allegations, and advocacy groups said the incident first surfaced in complaints to the Department of Police Accountability and the sheriff’s office.

San Francisco Sheriff’s Office policy has said body-worn cameras are not supposed to be recording during a strip search. California law also draws a bright line around the practice: Penal Code section 4030 reflects the state’s concern that unnecessary strip searches invade privacy and constitutional rights, and regulations generally prohibit cross-gender strip searches except in exigent circumstances or when a medical professional conducts them.

The timing of the allegations has also kept pressure on the department. The lawsuit says the incident took place on May 22, 2025, almost exactly a year before the federal filing. The sheriff’s office has said personnel action was taken in connection with the incident, while public defender Mano Raju said the case reflected a broader system that dehumanizes people in custody.

San Francisco’s sheriff’s department employs more than 1,000 people, about 22 percent of them female, a staffing mix that may shape how strip-search rules are carried out and enforced. The lawsuit now puts City Hall, the sheriff and jail supervisors under fresh scrutiny over whether basic safeguards inside County Jail No. 2 were breached and whether women entering county custody can trust the county to protect their most basic rights.