HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Stop Solitary CT is an organization focused on eliminating routine strip searches at correctional facilities in the state as the organization believes these procedures are inhumane.

The state said it performs strip searches to reduce violence and cutdown on contraband.

Senate Bill 1196 is now on the table at the capitol. The legislation would require Connecticut Department of Correction officers to document probable cause belief that an incarcerated individual is concealing contraband prior to a search.

As he mother of a formerly incarcerated individual, Rep. Robyn Porter (D-Hamden, New Haven) is in full support of the bill.

“I knew that when we visited him, that he would have to go through this, but I never realized what it was, what it entailed,” Porter said. “It robs people of their dignity, their humanity, what we’re taught when we grow up.”

During a press conference at the Legislative Office Buildings in Hartford, the voices of those formerly incarcerated had a platform to speak about the issue. Terry Ricks said she refused visits during her time incarcerated to avoid being strip searched.

“For the last eight months of my year and a half sentence because of the humiliation, so I deprived my daughter of seeing me, that’s the only person who was coming. I deprived her of seeing me, from knowing if I was fine and well,” Ricks said.

News 8 reached out to the Connecticut Department of Corrections for comment but has not heard back.