International human rights law forbids to take nude photos of prisoners, except in rare cases, or degrade their dignity. These regulations do not apply to China, apparently, since the practice of deliberately exposing naked prisoners to others as a form of torture and punishment is widespread in its prisons. Bitter Winter interviewed two female members of The Church of Almighty God CAG from Guangdong Province in southern China who were both stripped of their clothes in front of other inmates, a degrading and humiliating experience that has left emotional scars for the rest of their lives. This was just the beginning of her nightmare. They all sat up and looked at me. To humiliate her even more, she was told to jump up and down five times.

The exercise took place at the Lincoln Correctional Centre in Illinois in A court of appeals delivered its ruling on the case earlier this week. Plaintiffs in the case maintained that the search violated their Fourth and Eighth Amendment rights. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Long reads.

Yes, there are more shower scenes in this film than a gym hygiene movie! A few other things to point out: the convicts wear very revealing smocks with very few buttons. None of them wear underwear. You know that because they keep showing them without any! The warden pimps out inmates to wealthy lesbians.