Lawyer of the Day: Brittney B. Horstman Is Above the Bra

Would you shed your bra for a client? Earlier this month, Miami attorney Brittney Horstman did just that, while trying to pay a visit to a client at the Miami Federal Detention Center — but it did not help her case.

When Horstman visited the center on June 4, she set the metal detector off. The guards at the detention center barred her from entering while wearing a bra with underwire. The prison dress code doesn’t bar the bras, but it appears to be informal policy at the prison — presumably because an inmate might use the metal to make a Victoria’s Secret shiv and bust out.

So Horstman went to the bathroom and took her bra off. But the guards again declined to let her enter. From the Miami Herald:

In blouse and jacket, she returned, and cleared the walk-through detector.

Again, guards refused to let her pass — now, because she was braless, which is against prison dress code guidelines.

Apparently this has happened before, and there’s a special memo allowing defense attorneys to enter the center wearing a wire (bra). As women know, it’s hard to find a bra without underwire, after all…

Women lawyers have pushed back against anti-push-up regulation in Miami. Years back, the Federal Public Defender’s Office and the prison worked out an agreement: women lawyers could enter the prison if a wand showed that their bras were responsible for setting off the metal detector. But these guards apparently didn’t get that memo. This understandably got Horstman’s panties in a bunch. (She was still wearing those.)

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From the Herald:

“So, simply because I was a woman who wore a specific bra, my client was denied access to his attorney today,” Horstman e-mailed a group of fellow lawyers on June 4. “This is completely unacceptable.”

“You are a true defense attorney taking your bra off to try to see your client in jail!” Horstman’s colleague, attorney Carmen Vizcaino, said in an e-mail. “Betcha none of the guys have done that for their clients.”

Au contraire. Former Covington & Burling partner David Remes famously stripped to his tighty whities on behalf of his Gitmo clients.

The prison says this was an “aberration” and won’t happen again. So Horstman should be able to keep her bra on next time around, but she better not be wearing a sundress. Here’s the Miami Federal Detention Center dress code:

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Wrong bra, no bra: Jail bars lawyer [Miami Herald]