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| U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Strip-Search Lawsuit |
| By Turn To 10 |
| Published: 01/19/2004 |
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The U.S. Supreme Court refused without comment last Monday to consider an appeal in a class action lawsuit brought by 18 people strip-searched at a Rhode Island prison. The suit was brought over policies at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston. Under those policies, which have since been changed, people who were arrested for misdemeanors were subjected to strip and body cavity searches. In 1999, Craig Roberts was mistakenly arrested. He was taken to ACI, and underwent a strip and body cavity search, which turned up no weapons, drugs or other contraband. After a sheriff verified that Roberts was not supposed to be in custody, he was released. Roberts sued, claiming the search violated his constitutional rights. The U.S. District Court agreed, and an Appeals Court upheld the ruling. The ACI dropped the policy the day of the District Court ruling in March 2000. After that, 18 people who had been arrested for nonviolent, non-drug offenses and had undergone the searches, filed suit against the state and prison officials, seeking damages. U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi ruled in favor of the state, saying prison officials had immunity from prosecution, essentially tossing out the claims of the 18 plaintiffs. They appealed. In August, four members of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Lisi's decision and four members disagreed. The split meant the District Court ruling stood. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court. |
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