Polk v. Montgomery County, Md., s. 84-2205
| Decision Date | 06 February 1986 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 84-2205,s. 84-2205 |
| Parties | Mary Bracken POLK, Appellee, v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND; Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of Montgomery County, Maryland; Denise Dodson, Individually and as Receiving Officer for Plaintiff at Seven Locks Detention Center, Appellants. and Montgomery County Police Department; Bernard D. Crooke, Individually and as Chief of Police, Montgomery County, Maryland; Joseph Beddick, Officer, Montgomery County Police Department; Gary B. Blake, Individually and as Director of Montgomery County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; Samuel F. Saxton, Individually and as Warden of Seven Locks Detention Center; Rosa Lynn, Individually and as Supervising Matron of Seven Locks Detention Center; James A. Young, Individually and as Sheriff of Montgomery County, Maryland, Defendants, Class Denominated Vivian A. Smith, et al., amicus curiae. Mary Bracken POLK, Appellant, v. MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND; Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of Montgomery County, Maryland; Gary B. Blake, Individually and as Director of Montgomery County Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; Samuel F. Saxton, Individually and as Warden of Seven Locks Detention Center; Rosa Lynn, Individually and as Supervising Matron of Seven Locks Detention Center; Denise Dodson, Individually and as Receiving Officer for Plaintiff at Seven Locks Detention Center, Appellees, Class Denominated Vivian A. Smith, et al., Amicus Curiae. (L), 84-2206. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Carole A. Jeffries, Suzanne Levin (Jeffries & Levin, P.C., Silver Spring, Md., on brief), for appellants/cross appellees.
L. Palmer Foret, Edward J. Walinsky (William J. Carter, Edward J. Walinsky, Carr, Goodson & Lee, P.C., Washington, D.C., on brief), for appellees/cross-appellant.
Ellen J. Flannery (Clausen Ely, Jr., Anne V. Simonett, Covington & Burling, Arthur B. Spitzer, Elizabeth Symonds, Washington, D.C., on brief), for amicus curiae.
Before MURNAGHAN, ERVIN and SNEEDEN, Circuit Judges.
Mary Bracken Polk, the plaintiff, was arrested at her home, pursuant to a bench warrant, for failure to obtain a Maryland driver's license, failure to make a court appearance, and failure to comply with the conditions of a bond. She was incarcerated at the Montgomery County Detention Center (MCDC) and was subjected to a visual strip search. During the search, she was required to remove all of her clothing and squat while a female correctional official visually inspected her.
Polk argues that the strip search conducted by the MCDC defendants violated the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, and she seeks damages under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. We do not reach the merits of her constitutional claim. The district court held that the constitutionality of the MCDC strip search policy had been decided against the defendants in the similar case of Smith v. Montgomery County, 573 F.Supp. 604 (D.Md.1983). The district court applied the doctrine of offensive collateral estoppel against the defendants 1 and ruled in favor of Polk. See Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore, 439 U.S. 322, 99 S.Ct. 645, 58 L.Ed.2d 552 (1979) (). The district court erred in applying offensive collateral estoppel to this case, and we reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Polk was arrested at her home by Officer Joseph Beddick on January 26, 1981, pursuant to a bench warrant issued by a Montgomery County state district court judge. Polk was arrested for failure to obtain a Maryland driver's license. MCDC claims that she was transported from her home to the Silver Spring District Police Station, where she appeared before District Court Commissioner Everett Wadford to be advised of her rights and for a pre-trial determination to be made. Polk claims that on the night of her arrest, she was not taken before a judicial officer. MCDC alleges that Commissioner Wadford signed a document committing Polk, pending a hearing, and that Officer Beddick transported Polk to MCDC pursuant to Wadford's pre-trial release determination. Polk claims that she told Beddick that the arrest was a mistake, but she was nevertheless transported to MCDC.
Polk was committed to the custody of MCDC officials at 8:22 P.M. on January 26, 1981. MCDC claims that Polk was escorted by Denise Dodson, a female correctional officer who took Polk to the Women's Section Receiving and Discharge (R & D) Room. Dodson claims she conducted a visual strip search of Polk and that no other person was in the R & D room other than Polk and Dodson. Polk alleges that another inmate was present in the room at the time of the search. 2 Polk alleges that she showered and washed her hair before the search, and that during the search, a guard checked her hair, told her to squat, and visually inspected her anus. Polk claims that she was never frisked prior to the search.
MCDC states that Polk was allowed to make one telephone call to her son, Tommy Polk. Polk was taken to a cell and locked up for the night. It is not clear from the record if she was alone in the cell or had a cell mate.
On the morning of January 27, 1981, Polk was interviewed by an MCDC correctional officer and then taken to court. She apparently appeared for a bond review hearing at court, and according to MCDC, her bail was reduced from $5,000 to $250 and 10% ($25.00) was paid by Polk. Polk and MCDC both agree that Polk was released from MCDC on January 27, 1981, at approximately 1:33 P.M.
MCDC is a medium security adult detention facility that houses convicted offenders sentenced to its custody for a period of eighteen months or less, convicted offenders awaiting sentencing, and pre-trial detainees. MCDC concedes that it has a policy of conducting a visual strip search of all arrested persons, including those persons who are temporarily detained at the center. An arrestee is required to remove all her clothes and to bend and squat to permit a visual search of her anal and genital cavities. Both men and women are housed at MCDC, but the intake units are separate. MCDC claims that the room in which women are strip searched is approximately 15 feet by 20 feet and that it consists of a cell with two bunks, a shower, a toilet, a counter, and a bench. MCDC states that there is another housing unit which consists of ten double-bunk cells and that three of those cells are used to house newly incarcerated inmates whether convicted or pre-trial. MCDC states that these cells open onto a day room and that new pre-trial arrestees are thus able to intermingle with the total prison population. The justification given by MCDC for the necessity of searching every arrestee who is to be housed at the facility is that the arrestees intermingle with the prison population and are able to infiltrate contraband and weapons into the jail population.
This case comes before us in an unusual procedural posture and requires us to explain the history of another case--Smith v. Montgomery Co., 547 F.Supp. 592 (D.Md.1982). We review the facts in both the Smith case and the Polk case to show that it would be imprudent for us to decide the merits of an important constitutional question without the record of the actual case--Smith v. Montgomery Co.--upon which the question was decided and without any factual findings in the case before us.
Vivian Smith, in a separate class action suit, also challenged the constitutionality of the MCDC strip search policy. Polk's and Smith's actions were proceeding simultaneously in the United States District Court for the State of Maryland. Polk filed her action before the class action was filed.
On November 12, 1981, at approximately 10:00 P.M., Vivian A. Smith was arrested in her home in Montgomery County, on a charge of contempt of court for failure to appear in Montgomery County Circuit Court on October 28, 1981, in connection with a child support matter originating in New Jersey. Ms. Smith failed to appear in Maryland because the New Jersey child support proceeding had been dismissed as of October 15, 1981. She was taken to the Rockville District police station, where she was photographed and an arrest report was filed. Ms. Smith was then transported to MCDC and taken directly to the Women's R & D room.
Pursuant to the Montgomery County policy requiring a strip search of all persons detained or held at the MCDC, Smith was required to remove all her clothes and allow a visual search of her anal and genital cavities. No weapons or contraband were found. This strip search was the first and only search of any kind to which Smith was subjected from the time of her arrest, some two hours earlier, until the time of her release on November 13 at approximately 3:00 P.M.
The strip search of Smith was conducted in the presence of another female detainee, who was in the holding cell in the room. Following the strip search, the plaintiff was required to shower and then was placed in the holding cell with the other female detainee. The next day, the charge against Smith was dismissed.
Smith's suit was a class action against Montgomery County and its officials, under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. Smith alleged that the County's policy of indiscriminately strip searching all persons temporarily detained at the MCDC violated the Fourth Amendment. The class sought declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief. The Smith case was initially assigned to Judge Shirley Jones, who granted the motion for a preliminary injunction on September 13, 1982. See Smith v. Montgomery County, 547 F.Supp. 592 (D.Md.1982).
Judge Jones issued a preliminary injunction that enjoined the MCDC defendants from strip searching "temporary detainees" except if the correctional official had...
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