NEW ALBANY, IN — A mother of 4 says that while she was in police custody for a misdemeanor, she was stripped naked by deputies, pepper sprayed, and left naked in a cell for nearly seven hours.
The incident took place on March 30th, when 31-year-old Tabitha Gentry, of New Albany, was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, after an emotional fight with her estranged husband. She was taken to the Floyd County Jail and held on 2 misdemeanor charges.
Gentry appeared to be intoxicated and did not answer questions to the satisfaction of the deputies. In an effort to produce “submission through humiliation” — as attorney Laura Landenwich described — the jailers then strip-searched her, and paraded her around in front of other deputies, and left her nude in a room with no covering for the rest of the night.
