A federal judge has dismissed Woodbury County and former Woodbury County Sheriff Glenn Parrett from two lawsuits filed by women who say they were illegally strip searched by Woodbury County jailers.
Current Sheriff Dave Drew says he is pleased with Judge Mark Bennett’s ruling and changes have been implemented in how searches are conducted in the jail. “It’s a difficult job up there and there’s difficult circumstances that arise and policies and procedures need to be implemented and followed. And they need to be reviewed on either a biannual basis or quarterly,” Drew says. “That’s the direction we’re going, we want to make sure that we are constantly up to standard on that.”
Drew says adding more security cameras to the jail will help protect the county from future lawsuits. He also hopes to add newer camera technology. He says he’s recently met with a company that has body cameras and they are looking at having the jailers wear those cameras. “Which is really going to help, because that video will be right there with sound,” Drew says.
Shannon Peters and Nicole Clay filed the lawsuits. Several jailers are still named as defendants in the suits — which will be heard in December and February.
(Reporting by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)