HHS operates nine state hospitals and one residential youth center for people with mental health issues. These facilities are located across the state.3.10.3 Inmates shall be pat or strip searched prior to entering the visitation area and shall be strip searched prior to leaving the visitation area. Yes. They can and will strip search any patients. The individual plaintiff was subjected to a strip and body cavity search on his voluntary admission to a civilian mental hospital pursuant to a standing order. Do they have to strip search you before you're admitted to a mental hospital? In the hospital I stayed in, yes. G) Each time a client is strip searched, staff performing the strip search shall complete a body map diagram. I've never been strip searched in a psychiatric hospital, I have been a patient in four different ones since I was 18 (I'm 42 now). This article explains the involuntary commitment process and the rights of an inpatient in a mental health facility.