Lawsuit alleges WA women’s prison sends inmates to ‘torturous solitary confinement’ over inaccurate body scans

Columbia Legal Services has filed a class‑action lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) over what it calls an extreme and unlawful form of solitary confinement at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW).

The case, brought on behalf of two women identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, is a proposed class action, challenging the prison’s use of an X‑ray body scanner and a regime known as “dry cell” or “contraband watch.”

The goal of the program is to recover suspected contraband hidden inside an inmate’s body.

After a flagged scan, inmates face solitary confinement with no medical review, lawsuit claims

The lawsuit stated untrained corrections staff interpret the images and routinely misread constipation, gas, surgical materials, or implanted birth control as contraband. When a scan is deemed “positive,” there is no medical review, according to the complaint.

Instead, people are strip searched, placed in a locked restraint suit, and held alone in a small cell with no toilet or running water. Lights stay on around the clock, staff watch continuously, and give frequent orders to show hands. The lawsuit describes bruising, infections, panic, humiliation, and retraumatization.

“The danger and damage of being in solitary confinement has been a topic in criminal justice for years, and in fact, DOC has policies that acknowledge it is devastatingly harmful to inmates to be in solitary confinement,” attorney John Cummings said. “But those policies currently permit that same treatment, which they acknowledge is psychologically unsound and frankly cruel and unusual, to be imposed on people in their dry cell program. The dry cell program is exempted from the protection of DOC policy against putting people in torturous solitary confinement.”

Cummings said one plaintiff, dry‑celled three times and held seven days, calls the conditions “inhumane” and says the treatment amounts to cruel punishment that demands stronger oversight and accountability.

Lawsuit seeks policy changes, trained staff to review body scans

The lawsuit argued DOC has failed to examine the apparent pattern of false positives or require medically trained staff to review scans, even when X‑rays may reveal health problems that need care instead of discipline.

The suit seeks changes to DOC policies, class‑action status and monetary damages.

“We’re not saying DOC can never use body scanners,” Alison Bilow, a staff attorney with Columbia Legal Services, said. “The problem is that staff with no diagnostic‑imaging training are the final authority. DOC could prevent significant harm by requiring trained personnel to double‑check any ‘positive’ scan before taking the drastic step of putting someone in a dry cell.”

MyNorthwest reached out to DOC for comment. They declined, saying they don’t comment on pending litigation.

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