An 8-year-old girl was reportedly stripped naked and searched when she was visiting her father in prison.

According to The Virginian-Pilot, the alleged incident happened at the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Virginia. The girl, who came to the prison with her father's girlfriend, was reportedly told that she can't see her father without being searched.

“That’s outrageous," Daniel Macallair, executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice told the newspaper. “It’s generally regarded in the criminal justice field that you do not strip search young children. I mean most adults, certainly most adults who work in the field of child welfare would know better, that this is an act of child abuse."

Director of Communications Lisa Kinney said the staff member who approved the search didn’t have that authority.

“It is deeply troubling and represents a breach in our protocol," Kinney wrote in an email to The Virginian-Pilot. "We sincerely apologize to this child and her family and will be taking immediate disciplinary action against the person responsible.” 

The girl texted her mom after the visit and described the traumatizing incident, saying they made her take all her clothes off. 

“Hey Mom, am so mad the jail had to strip me with all of my clothes off,” she wrote. 

Diamond Peerman, the father's girlfriend, said a prison guard initially told her that the girl didn't need to be searched. But another official reportedly overruled the guard and required the girl to be strip-searched.

According to The Washington Post, the prison's policy states that anyone who refuses to be strip-searched can be told to leave. The policy also requires a legal guardian’s permission to strip-search a child. In this case,  Peerman said she was told to sign the consent form even though she's not the girl's legal guardian.   

Following the incident, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam stopped the policy which allowed the strip search and ordered an investigation, The Washington Post reported. 

“I am deeply disturbed by these reports — not just as Governor, but as a pediatrician and a dad,” Northam said in a statement. “I’ve directed the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to suspend this policy while the Department conducts an immediate investigation and review of their procedures.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia condemned the strip-search in a Tweet Thursday.

"No child should ever be subjected to invasive, humiliating, traumatizing strip searches carried out by strangers to see their loved one in prison," the ACLU said. "Those responsible must be held accountable & VDOC policy must be changed so this never happens again."

The girl's mother said her daughter has a good relationship with her father because she visits him often, but the latest incident has traumatized her and she will not be going to the prison again.

Studies show that strip-searching minors has been increasingly common in the U.S. and around the world. 

According to the Human Rights Law Centre, 374 children in Western Australia were strip-searched before visiting family in prison in the last five years. The report adds that 97% of strip searches are conducted without any reason for suspicion.

Children have also been strip-searched at school, the Washington Post reports. In 2009, a 13-year-old girl in Arizona was forced to strip and shake out her underwear during a search for prescription-strength ibuprofen. Nine middle school students were strip-searched in 2009 during a field trip to a D.C. jail, which was supposed to scare them from going to prison, The Post reports. 

Buckingham Correctional CenterStrip-Search