SAN FRANCISCO — Twenty women detained at San Francisco County Jail No. 2 have filed a federal civil rights class action lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto and multiple deputies, alleging they were subjected to degrading mass strip searches, cross-gender observation and retaliation after filing complaints.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the alleged misconduct stems from a May 22, 2025, incident in which approximately a dozen deputies entered the women’s housing unit at County Jail No. 2 and ordered women to undergo strip searches under armed supervision.
The lawsuit alleges the women were forced one by one into a search area where they were required to “remove all clothing, lift their breasts, spread their buttocks, squat, and cough,” while male deputies remained positioned nearby with “direct sightlines into the search area.”
The complaint further alleges deputies activated body-worn cameras during the searches despite Sheriff’s Office policy prohibiting such recordings during strip searches. According to the filing, supervising Sergeant Ibarra allegedly instructed Deputy Dockery not to deactivate her camera.
The press release states Ibarra later told women the footage could be “used for training purposes,” that it was “just like YouTube” and “just like Cops,” and that their genitalia would be “blurred” before any public release.
The lawsuit also alleges women who were menstruating were forced to remove tampons and pads without replacements and that women who filed grievances or encouraged others to pursue legal claims faced retaliation, including placement in administrative segregation and removal from work assignments.
According to the complaint, the alleged misconduct continued after May 2025, including a June 2025 “orifice search,” a July 2025 incident in which a deputy allegedly used a flashlight to illuminate the inside of a woman’s vagina, and a September 2025 incident in which male deputies allegedly remained in a hospital room while a woman gave birth, underwent pelvic exams and breastfed her newborn.
“This is not going away. This is not going to be slipped under the rug. We are not asking for apologies. We are asking for change,” said Elizabeth Bertolino of Bertolino Law, PC, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. “Despite their fear, despite the retaliation, despite the fact they have to be in the very county jail with the perpetrators who did this, they still are speaking out.”
The lawsuit includes federal claims under Section 1983 alleging violations of the Fourth, Fourteenth and First Amendments, along with California state claims under the Bane Act, the Gender Violence Act, California constitutional privacy protections, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, declaratory and injunctive relief and a jury trial.
“The Sheriff’s own policies forbid male staff during women’s strip searches and forbid body cameras during them. Both rules were broken on May 22, on a supervisor’s order,” said Anthony Label, partner at The Veen Firm, LLP and co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. “This is not rogue conduct. It is institutional policy, carried out by an agency that then punished the women who spoke up. That is what civil rights litigation is for.”
The filing coincided with a vigil organized Friday by All of Us or None outside County Jail No. 2 marking the one-year anniversary of the alleged searches. According to the press release, attorneys, community advocates and survivors’ representatives were expected to attend and provide interviews.
The case is captioned Sahagun Lopez, et al. v. City and County of San Francisco, et al. and names 20 plaintiffs “individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated.”
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