NCJ Number: 90169
Title: Constitutional Limitations on Body Searches in Prisons
Journal: Columbia Law Review Volume:82 Issue:5 Dated:(June 1982) Pages:1033-1056
Author(s): D C James
Date Published: 1982
Page Count: 24
Format: Article
Language: English
Country: United States of America
Annotation: This paper concludes that different kinds of prison searches should require varying levels of antecedent cause, since they differ in their security justifications and their intrusiveness; a sliding scale for analyzing fourth amendment limitations on body searches in prisons is proposed.
Abstract: To evaluate reasonableness of prison searches, courts should be sensitive to the precise type of search at issue. Different searches will, according to their circumstances and scope, differently affect the fourth amendment balance between government and prisoner interests. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Bell v. Wolfish, merely held that visual body cavity searches of prisoners need not always be justified by probable cause. Thus, the case did not establish indicia of suspicions necessary to justify more intrusive or demeaning body searches. In analyzing the adequacy of government justification for a particular search, courts should recognize a basic distinction between 'law enforcement' searches, for which individual indicia of suspicion may be identified, and 'administrative searches,' whose validity must rest on general institutional security needs. Administrative searches are in two categories: point-of-entry searches of all inmates entering the institution and those having unsupervised contact with outsiders, as well as internal searches conducted to curtail the circulation of contraband within prison. Since point-of-entry searches may sometimes offer officials their only opportunity to detect certain contraband and prevent its use, body searches are justified, but intrusive body cavity searches (as opposed to visual searches) should be justified by a level of individualized suspicion greater than that required for visual inspections. Since internal searches involve government and prisoner interests distinct from those raised by point-of-entry searches, individualized suspicion should be required for visual searches as well as body cavity searches. Further, all body cavity searches should be conducted in accordance with established institutional regulations known to the inmates. A total of 150 footnotes are provided.
Index Term(s): Prisoner's rights; Right of privacy; Strip searches
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