Goff v. Nix

• Decision Date: 16 January 1987
• Docket Number: Nos. 84-1416,85-1119,s. 84-1416
• Citation: 803 F.2d 358
• Parties: George GOFF, Appellee, v. Crispus NIX, Warden; Hal Farrier, Director of Corrections; Kurt Gary, Correctional Officer; Correctional Officer Matlock, Appellants. (Two Cases)
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 358

803 F.2d 358

55 USLW 2263

George GOFF, Appellee, v. Crispus NIX, Warden; Hal Farrier, Director of Corrections Kurt Gary, Correctional Officer; Correctional Officer Matlock, Appellants. (Two Cases)

Nos. 84-1416, 85-1119.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Dec. 11, 1985.

Decided Oct. 9, 1986.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Jan. 16, 1987.

John M. Parmeter, Asst. Atty. Gen., Des Moines, Iowa, for appellants.

Barbara A. Schwartz, Iowa City, Iowa, for appellee.

Before ROSS, Circuit Judge, BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge, and BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs George Goff, David Heaton, and Terry Schertz are inmates at the Iowa State Penitentiary (ISP) in Fort Madison, Iowa. Asserting causes of action under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, plaintiffs allege that the conduct of visual body cavity (VBC) searches by ISP officials as a condition of any movement outside their living unit or before being taken outside the confines of the ISP violated their rights under the Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The District Court concluded that the VBC searches violated the Fourth Amendment. The court entered permanent injunctive relief prohibiting State officials from enforcing the VBC portion of their strip search policy except under limited circumstances. We reverse except as noted below.

I.

At the time of this suit, plaintiffs Goff, Heaton, and Schertz resided in ISP's segregation units, which prison officials describe as "prison[s] within a prison." Brief of Appellant at 26. ¹ In separate pro se complaints filed in February and March 1984, plaintiffs challenged the VBC search component of ISP's strip search policy. ² The VBC search portion of the strip search policy basically applies when an inmate enters or leaves the institution or the cellhouse if the inmate is in one of the segregation units, before and after contact visits or after exposure to general population inmates if the inmate is in a segregation unit, and any other time when there is a reasonable suspicion that an inmate is concealing contraband in a body cavity. See Policy No. 84-3-2-567(B)(10). The policy was implemented to insure that VBC searches are performed in a consistent and thorough manner. See Hearing Transcript at 70-71. ³ On February 29, 1984, Goff filed a motion for a preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of this policy. After an evidentiary hearing held on March 15, 1984, the District Court entered a preliminary In assessing the searches at issue under the Fourth Amendment, the District Court balanced the need for the VBC searches against the invasion of personal rights resulting from those searches. Id. at 810; see Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 559, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1884, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). ISP officials asserted that the VBC searches were vital to maintaining the security of the institution and of crucial significance in stemming the introduction of drugs, weapons, and other contraband into ISP and in preventing the transfer of those items between prisoners. The court, however, noted that the inmates at ISP were refusing in some instances the opportunity to visit with their attorneys and to exercise or obtain medical care. The court attributed this to ISP's VBC search policy. Goff, 627 F.Supp. at 811-12. The court's analysis then led it to conclude that use of the VBC search technique had an adverse effect on the inmates' exercise of their constitutional rights to access to the courts, to legal representation, and to adequate exercise and medical care. Id. at 812. In issuing the preliminary injunction, the court stated that the prison administrators' security concerns "may well be exaggerated and that the exercise of the inmate's constitutional rights must take precedence.... The defendants have not convinced the Court that the security goals achieved by the vbc searches are so critical as to outweigh the exercise of inmates' constitutional rights." Id. at 812-13. The court further observed that "the possible addition of a few extra correctional officers, while somewhat of a burden to the defendants, is clearly a more reasonable alternative than to engage in a practice the effect of which is to deny basic human rights." Id. (footnote omitted). ⁴

                order prohibiting ISP officials from conducting VBC searches as part of their strip search procedure before or after visits with attorneys, clergy, or the prison ombudsman, and before going to or after coming from medical facilities, court appearances, or exercise areas.   Goff v. Nix, 627 F.Supp. 808, 813 (1986) (order granting preliminary injunction)
                

Subsequently, plaintiffs' actions were consolidated for trial, after which the District Court entered a permanent injunction, affirming the earlier order but modifying it to permit ISP officials to conduct VBC searches of prisoners entering or leaving the University of Iowa Hospitals. The Court's order also suggests that plaintiffs may have a claim for damages. ⁵ In reaching this result, the District Court first held that prison inmates retain limited Fourth Amendment rights while incarcerated. Goff v. Nix, 626 F.Supp. 736, 741 (1984). The court then found, essentially for the reasons stated in the preliminary injunction, that the VBC searches were unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. See id. at 742-44. ISP officials appeal the District Court's ruling, contending that the District Court erred as a matter of law in ruling that the VBC searches violated the inmates' Fourth Amendment rights. ⁶

II.

We begin by taking note of the repeated instruction that the Supreme Court has given courts must heed [the] warning that "[s]uch considerations are peculiarly within the province and professional expertise of corrections officials, and, in the absence of substantial evidence in the record to indicate that the officials have exaggerated their response to these considerations, courts should ordinarily defer to their expert judgment in such matters."

                concerning judicial deference to the decisions of prison administrators.  Although the Court has stated that "prisoners [must] be accorded those rights not fundamentally inconsistent with imprisonment itself or incompatible with the objectives of incarceration," Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 523, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 3198, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984), the Court also has observed that " '[l]awful incarceration brings about the necessary withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and rights, a retraction justified by the considerations underlying our penal system.' "    Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 822, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 2804, 41 L.Ed.2d 495 (1974) (citations omitted).  In addressing claims that prison conditions or policies violate the Constitution,
                

Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 540-41 n. 23, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1874-75 n. 23, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979), quoting Pell, 417 U.S. at 827, 94 S.Ct. at 2806; see Block v. Rutherford, 468 U.S. 576, 583-85, 104 S.Ct. 3227, 3232, 82 L.Ed.2d 438 (1984). The Court further noted that judicial deference to prison administrators should be "wide-ranging," particularly in regard to "the adoption and execution of policies and practices that in their judgment are needed to preserve internal order and discipline and to maintain institutional security." Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 547, 99 S.Ct. at 1878. Just this term, the Court stated that judicial deference to prison security measures extends "to prophylactic or preventive measures" and indicated that while this deference "does not insulate from review actions taken in bad faith and for no legitimate purpose, ... it requires that neither judge nor jury freely substitute their judgment for that of officials who have made a considered choice." Whitley v. Albers, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 1078, 1085, 89 L.Ed.2d 251 (1986).

The rationale for judicial deference has been explained by the fact that the management of corrections institutions is peculiarly the responsibility of the executive and legislative branches of government and by the fact that

courts are ill equipped to deal with the increasingly urgent problems of prison administration and reform. Judicial recognition of that fact reflects no more than a healthy sense of realism. Moreover, where state penal institutions are involved, federal courts have a further reason for deference to the appropriate prison authorities.

Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 405, 94 S.Ct. 1800, 1807, 40 L.Ed.2d 224 (1974) (footnote omitted); see Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 548, 99 S.Ct. at 1878. Thus we must recognize the "limited scope" of our review of the policies and practices of State prison officials, Block, 468 U.S. at 589, 104 S.Ct. at 3234, and that their decisions are entitled to considerable deference by virtue of not only their expertise but also because of the proper role of federal courts in supervising state institutions. We are mindful that prison administrators and officials are constantly in close contact with the prison population and we believe that this entitles their views to significant weight. In addition, principles of federalism counsel that we accord State officials wide latitude in performing their legitimate duties.

Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that an appellate court may set aside a district court's findings of fact only if they are "clearly erroneous," giving "due regard ... to the opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witnesses." To conclude that findings of fact are clearly erroneous, our review of the record must leave us with the "definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1511, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985). But we are also cognizant that to uphold the District Court's ruling, there must be "substantial

evidence" to indicate that the prison officials exaggerated their response to the perceived security concerns when viewed in light of...