Pre jail strip searches
The supreme court has upheld that strip searches before going to jail are OK, no matter how minor the offense. Now, I have a pretty luxurious sheen on my wookiee suit and this ruling doesn’t really bother me. If you’re going to jail for mass murder or because you ripped a tag off a mattress, being a violation of federal law, you’re going into general population. And, well, can’t really have weapons in there and all of that.
April 3rd, 2012 at 8:56 am
Of course the person in question who filed the lawsuit was innocent had already paid his fines but was arrested due to incompetence at updating the state computer..
April 3rd, 2012 at 9:41 am
So the scene plays out like this:
Officer: “Well, since you won’t co-operate, just gonna have to haul you down to the jail where you’ll get a nice strip search. And since we can strip search you each time you’re moved from one jail to another, we are going to move you on the hour, every hour, until we start getting some information.”
April 3rd, 2012 at 10:39 am
“Hey everyone, Heads Up! They’re bringing in 30 Occupying Hippies from the clean up Downtown. Get all the Rookies together and tell them to Glove Up.”
Sometimes there is a Silver Lining.
April 3rd, 2012 at 11:04 am
Umm, Bubblehead? I’d really rather not do that, even with gloves on.
April 3rd, 2012 at 11:35 am
The bigger problem it does seem to me is that you can pay the fine and still get detained for a week. Hopefully he won that suit.
April 3rd, 2012 at 11:51 am
That would work robert unless they happen to arrest a chippendales type man…
April 3rd, 2012 at 12:36 pm
News sources define this as a “close visual inspection.” Reasonable minds may differ on this, but I’d say it depends upon who is in orifice.
I for one won’t be standing in the court reporter line the day SCOTUS takes up that definition.
April 3rd, 2012 at 12:38 pm
Good points being made at Reason.com – if you can be arrested for not paying a minor fine or for another minor offense like a seat belt law then you’ve already got the short end of the stick. Those shouldn’t be arrestable offenses. If that problem was fixed at the state or local level the strip search part wouldn’t be an issue.
April 3rd, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Our county has already announced they modify their policy to strip search everyone from now on, for security of course. Can’t be careful enough.
April 3rd, 2012 at 3:42 pm
You’re aware that speeding is an arrestable offense, right?
April 3rd, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Laws vary by State, of course. Case in point: In Georgia you can be arrested if you’re stopped for a traffic violation and you don’t have your license on you. It matters not if you have a valid license and you just left it at home, you still go to jail, with all that entails. In Alabama, it’s a ticket.
Know your local laws and ordinances before you get some Glove Love.
April 3rd, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Strip searches are nothing more than feel good policy for administrators; it makes them feel like they are doing something.
If someone really wants to conceal something from you you are not going to find it on a strip search. Trust me I’ve done enough of them over the years to know.
April 3rd, 2012 at 10:36 pm
As with any tool, strip searches can either be effective or they can be abusive. A few years ago there was a major case where two male officers strip searched an arrested female multiple times. Obviously abusive.
My agency only allows such searches if they are being admitted to “the back” of the jail. The majority of the new inmates will be held in booking for a given amount of time in order for them to make bail. Per state law, this can not exceed 24 hours.
If they fail to make bond, then they are given a (second) medical interview and TB test. After that, they are moved to the showers where they are allowed to place their clothing and property into secured bags, strip searched, offered a shower, and issued jail uniforms/property. Our policy is that males search males, females search females, and he/she’s are searched in half portions by officers meeting the appropriate gender requirements.
The searches are effective if done properly. Yes, inmates can attempt to “suitcase” contraband but the 24 hour wait in booking can actually make this difficult.
The problem is that too many people try to differentiate between different levels of crimes and assume that a jail can actually separate inmates by felony/misdemeanor and sentenced/unsentenced. I hate to say it, but corrections budgets have been cut to the bone because no politician wants to be accused of coddling inmates. Sadly the only areas where a budget can be cut without violating Supreme Court rulings is the payroll and maintenance. Thus we are terribly understaffed and some maintenance issues have to wait. Thus the strip searches have been very effective in maintaining security and reducing contraband even though we are now lacking in other areas of security.
April 4th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
I’m really glad you’ve taken this position, Unc. I believe in liberty above safety, but you’re right – liberty cannot involve detainees bringing weapons into a jail. Most intakes to a jail on a weekend are going to be DUI, drunk and disorderly, drunk in public, and so on. These are minor offenses, but they also cause most “battery on inmate” charges (felonies) in jail.
April 5th, 2012 at 6:46 am
This will inevitably result in cops using forced strip searches as a punishment for “disrespect of cop.”