Alabama reporter fights back after being told to leave execution because her skirt was ‘too short’

A video news producer for AL.com, was told by prison officials that she had to leave an execution she was covering Thursday night because her skirt was “too short” and her shoes were “too revealing.”

Ivana Hrynkiw Shatara claims the Department of Corrections informed her that the outfit she was wearing was “inappropriate” and “too revealing,” according to the New York Post. She was barred from joining other journalists while convicted killer Joe Nathan James was executed for murdering his 26-year-old former girlfriend, Faith Hall, in 1994.

In order to get any story at all as James was dispatched, she had to borrow waders from a male photographer that were held up with suspenders under her skirt. Shatara’s media company is filing a “formal complaint” over the matter.

“I have worn this skirt to prior executions without incident, to work, to professional events, and more, and I believe it is more than appropriate,” Shatara stated Thursday night.

The skirt that the officials found offensive is an A-line, black skirt from Philosophy. It rides approximately 1.5 inches above the knee. Shatara is 5 ft. 7 in. tall. With heels, she’s 5 ft. 10 in. tall and she has long legs. She says that because of her long legs that it might appear she is showing more skin than is appropriate.

“At 5ft 7in, and 5ft 10in with my heels on, I am a tall and long-legged person. I tried to pull my skirt to my hips to make the skirt longer but was told it was still not appropriate,” she reported.

After she put the waders on, she was told that her open-toed heels were also inappropriate.

“I was told my shoes were also too revealing… and needed to change shoes,” she added.

The reporter was forced to put on a pair of tennis shoes she had in her car so she could attend the execution. Later, she commented that she was treated unfairly.

“This was an uncomfortable situation and I felt embarrassed to have my body and my clothes questioned in front of a room full of people I mostly had never met,” Shatara wrote. “I sat down, tried to stop blushing, and did my work.”

She told the New York Post that her employer, the Alabama Media Group, is planning to send a formal complaint to the Alabama Department of Corrections over the altercation.

“Going forward, if there is a dress code that is going to be enforced, members of the media need to be made aware before the day of the executions,” she remarked.

“There has never been, at least in the past decade that my coworkers and myself have covered executions in Alabama, a dress code revealed to reporters or enforced,” the reporter commented. “The published visitor policy does not mention members of the media, nor execution protocols. It also doesn’t mention closed-toe shoes and only addresses women’s attire.”

According to AL.com, there is a dress code, “The dress code is mainly directed at women and states that ‘all dresses, skirts, and pants shall extend below the knee (females only). Splits/Slits must be knee length or lower (females only).’ As for shoes, the only reference is made in the items prohibited include “slippers, shower shoes, and beach shoes.”

The New York Post reports that other corrections departments across the country have visitor dress codes forbidding revealing clothing “to maintain a positive environment for all inmates and visitors.”

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