Ted Balaker says or Reason.tv : “I came across an old public domain Bureau of Prisons training video and was saddened by how much it reminded me of airport security screenings — even the prison guards’ uniforms look like TSA uniforms at first glance! It’s getting harder to tell the airline passengers from the prison inmates.”
I agree with Ted. Is there any reason not to believe that airport searches will ratchet in the direction?
You’ve heard about the passenger who opted out of a full-body scan (a.k.a. “a virtual strip search”) and was subjected to an intrusive and humiliating pat down. “If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested,” passenger John Tyner told Transportation Security Administration workers in San Diego.
Well, rest easy, John and other passengers offended by both full-body scans and hands-on searches.
TSA won’t touch your junk or your breasts or buttocks. If they begin to strip search passengers as if they’re prison inmates, they’ll do just what correctional officers do: They’ll make you do all the nasty work.
What follows is an excerpt from a training video for prison guards on how to make sure that inmates aren’t hiding contraband.
The video makes for extremely uncomfortable watching and viewer discretion–and outrage–is advised. After all, this may well be the next step in how the TSA, one of the least effective and efficient government agencies of all time, goes about its daily business.
Coming Soon to an Airport Near You: Prison-style strip searches?