Belgium Prison Guards Trick Female Lawyers Into Removing Their Bras

Belgian prison guards are being accused of forcing female lawyers to remove their bras by pretending that they are setting off security scanners, The (London) Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

The guards at Hasselt jail in the Flemish province of Limburg insist the metal detectors are so sensitive that the metal wiring and clasps in the underwear can get them beeping.

But Joseph Rowies, a local representative of criminal barristers, said women lawyers believe the prettier the visitor, the more sensitive the scanner becomes.

"The metal detection checks seem very difficult to carry out when a pretty, young lawyer or visitor reports to the prison gate. And then it becomes a little something to amuse the guards," he told the Het Nieuwsblad newspaper.

"Time and again they let the metal detector go off. First, the shoes, then the jewelry. And, since the detector still beeps, they demand that the lady in question take off her bra."

Rowies has told the prison authorities that he is receiving at least one complaint a month from furious female lawyers.

Laurent Sempot, a spokesman for Belgium's directorate-general of prisons, dismissed the claims as "far-fetched."

"We have recently tested the metal detectors. They functioned perfectly," he said.