Strip Search: Prisoners (Young v. Cook County)

In a class action involving as many as 500,000 individual searches, a federal jury found that county jail employees violated the law in the manner in which they conducted strip searches of detainees. The lawsuit claimed that strip searches of male prisoners were conducted in groups standing naked side by side, did not require reasonable suspicion that contraband would be found, and included jail personnel using derogatory language or making "sex noises" in a degrading fashion while detainees bent over. A separate jury will determine the damages to be awarded to class members. Young v. Cook County, #06-552, (U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Ill., August 14, 2009). Some of the documents in the case are available online at the website of the plaintiffs' attorneys.

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Strip Search: Prisoners

Source:

AELE LAW LIBRARY OF CASE SUMMARIES:
Corrections Law for Jails, Prisons and Detention Facilities

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California: Female guards OKd to strip-search male inmates (Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals)

A male prisoner can be strip-searched by a female guard even if male officers are available, a federal appeals court has ruled.

In a 2-1 decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco dismissed an Arizona inmate's claims that jail officials had violated his rights by having a female guard trainee search inside his shorts and pat down his genitals.

The inmate, Charles Byrd, was in Maricopa County's minimum-security Durango Jail awaiting trial in October 2004 when officials ordered searches of everyone in his unit after a series of fights.

Byrd was ordered to strip down to his shorts. A female cadet from a training academy pulled out his waistband, patted down his groin through the shorts and felt his buttocks to check for contraband, the court said. The woman said the search had lasted no more than 20 seconds, while Byrd estimated one minute.

Byrd sued, claiming he had suffered pain and humiliation. A jury found no evidence that the probe had been conducted painfully, and the appeals court upheld a judge's ruling that the search was constitutional.


(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com

Just curious.... Are male guards allowed to strip search female prisoners, even if female officers are available?