Teen in fatal swarming faced strip searches in jail

Process violated provincial policy, court hearing told

- JENNIFER PAGLIARO

One of the teenage girls who has pleaded guilty in the deadly swarming of Kenneth Lee was routinely strip searched while in custody, including being forced to be completely naked on six separate occasions, in violation of provincial policy, a court has heard.

Justice David Rose also heard as part of an agreed statement of facts read in his downtown courtroom Wednesday that for 18 years, it was the written policy of the first youth facility where the girl was held — Sundance in Kingston, run by the St. Lawrence Youth Association — to have the girls in their custody strip completely naked during searches.

A second youth facility — Woodview in London, run by Craigwood Children, Youth and Family Services — did not have a policy that dictated girls in custody be stripped naked, the statement said, but that two staff members “misunderstood” those rules, leading to searches where the girl was made to strip naked.

The girl — who was 13 years old at the time of her arrest and the first four strip searches, and is now 15 — took the stand to describe her experience.