DILLWYN, Va. (AP) - Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam says he's suspended a policy that allowed prison officials to strip-search an 8-year-old girl who was visiting her father.
Northam told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in a statement Friday that he was "deeply disturbed" by reports of the incident.
He said the state's secretary of public safety and homeland security would suspend the policy and immediately conduct an investigation.
The Virginian-Pilot previously reported that prison officials had breached protocol when they strip-searched the girl before allowing her to visit her father.
The father's girlfriend accompanied the child to Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn just before Thanksgiving,
