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| Conn. strip-searches violated rights |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/13/2004 |
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State officials repeatedly violated the constitutional rights of two young teenage girls by strip-searching them without probable cause, a federal appeals court ruled last Tuesday. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York found that officials legally searched the girls when they entering the juvenile correction system, but crossed the line with a policy of strip-searching inmates after court hearings and transfers. "Whatever the justification for strip searches upon initial admission to a first detention facility, we see no state interest sufficient to warrant repeated strip searches simply because of transfers to other facilities," Judge Jon O. Newman wrote for the court. The court's decision did not name the facilities where the girls, 13 and 14, were strip-searched. The girls described one search conducted with other inmates present. Judicial Branch officials could not be reached for comment last Wednesday evening. Judge Sonia Sotomayor agreed with the decision but went even further, saying strip-searches upon entering the facility are also unconstitutional. She said officials need probable cause to subject a child to such an invasive search. "Most of them have been victims of abuse or neglect and may be more vulnerable mentally and emotionally," Sotomayor wrote. While the court identified four instances of unconstitutional searches, it sent a lawsuit filed by the girls' parents back to a Connecticut federal court to hear further argument about whether officials inappropriately searched one of the girls while looking for a missing pencil. The state had argued that detention centers are similar to prisons, where strip-searches have been held as constitutional. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he had not read the decision. He said he is consulting with judicial officials on how to adjust the state's search rules. |
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