Goff v. Nix
| Decision Date | 22 March 1984 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 84-129-E. |
| Citation | 627 F. Supp. 808 |
| Parties | George GOFF, Plaintiff, v. Crispus NIX, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Iowa |
Barbara Schwartz, Prisoner Assistance Clinic, College of Law, Iowa City, Iowa, for plaintiff.
John Parmeter, Asst. Atty. Gen., Des Moines, Iowa, for defendants.
This matter comes before the Court on a motion for preliminary relief filed by the plaintiff on February 27, 1984. An evidentiary hearing was held in Des Moines, Iowa on March 15, 1984 with all parties represented by counsel. After carefully considering the evidence presented and the arguments of counsel, the Court finds that the request for a preliminary injunction should be denied in part and approved in part as will be set out in this Order.
The plaintiff in this action is an inmate at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, Iowa. It is alleged that the prison's policy of requiring visual body cavity searches before and after "contact"1 visitation and transportation outside of the prison walls, before and after exercise, and in other situations, is a violation of the inmate's constitutional rights of privacy, access to the courts, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. The provision of the policy requiring visual body cavity (vbc) searches before and after exercise periods and visits to the prison infirmary for inmates housed in segregation units is also challenged.
It is clear that prisoners retain a number of constitutional rights while incarcerated. Prisoners have a right to a certain amount of privacy and are protected by the Fourth Amendment while in custody, although this Fourth Amendment protection may be reduced from that applicable to other citizens. Bonner v. Coughlin, 517 F.2d 1311, 1316 (7th Cir.1975) (opinion by now Supreme Court Justice Stevens). Inmates also have a constitutional right of access to the courts which must be adequate, effective, and meaningful. Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977). Furthermore, this Court is convinced that the denial of meaningful opportunities to exercise or to receive adequate medical attention is cruel and unusual punishment, violative of the Eighth Amendment, and constitutes an "unquestioned and serious deprivation of basic human needs." See Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337, 347, 101 S.Ct. 2392, 2399, 69 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981). In light of needed security requirements in an institution such as the Iowa State Penitentiary, prison officials need not be required to maintain policies that minimize interference with the rights set out above. Hurley v. Ward, 549 F.Supp. 174, 184 (S.D.N.Y.1982). When the record contains substantial evidence, however, that corrections officials may have exaggerated their response to perceived security needs, thus unduly interfering with the exercise of these constitutional rights, courts must act to protect those rights. Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 827, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 2806, 41 L.Ed.2d 495 (1974).
The United States Supreme Court has held that vbc searches following contact visits with persons from outside the institution are not per se unconstitutional but must be judged for reasonableness based upon the facts of the particular situation. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 560, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1885, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). The court in Wolfish stated that the following factors should be considered in determining whether a vbc search is reasonable under the circumstances: (1) the scope of the intrusion; (2) the manner in which it is conducted; (3) the justification for initiating it; (4) the place in which it is conducted. See also, Arruda v. Fair, 710 F.2d 886, 888 (1st Cir.1983); United States v. Lilly, 576 F.2d 1240, 1246 (5th Cir.1978); Hurley v. Ward, 549 F.Supp. 174, 186 (S.D.N.Y.1982); Frazier v. Ward, 528 F.Supp. 80, 82 (N.S. N.Y.1981); Simms v. Brierton, 500 F.Supp. 813, 817 (N.D.Ill.1980); and Hodges v. Klein, 412 F.Supp. 896, 902 (D.N.J. 1976). In all of the above-cited cases, the constitutionality of vbc searches was determined in light of the reasonableness of the searches under the circumstances presented.
VBC searches of inmates have been held to be unreasonable and, thus, unconstitutional by several courts in situations other than when returning from contact visits. See Hurley v. Ward, supra, 549 F.Supp., at 186; Hodges v. Klein, supra, 412 F.Supp., at 902. This does not, however, prevent prison officials from making a vbc search if there is a reasonably clear indication or suggestion that the inmate is concealing something in a body cavity. Hodges v. Klein, supra, 412 F.Supp., at 903.
The plaintiff urges this Court to bar all vbc searches, even following contact visits, as unreasonable. The Court has found only one case to support the banning of vbc searches following contact visits. See Frazier v. Ward, supra, 528 F.Supp., at 82. The Court has also, however, found only one case that would directly support the defendants' position that vbc searches are reasonable in almost all situations. See Arruda v. Fair, supra, 710 F.2d, at 888. The Court is convinced that the proper test for examining the constitutionality of the vbc searches practiced by the Iowa State Penitentiary administration is whether such searches are reasonable under the circumstances experienced at the Iowa State Penitentiary.
The parties have stipulated to a certain number of facts that were read into the record and may be summarized as follows:
1. There are 48 inmates housed in cellhouse 20, a segregation unit, who are allowed exercise, two inmates per pen at a time in two separate exercise pens.
2. When an inmate from cellhouse 20 is to be taken to the exercise area, he is strip searched. The evidence is unclear whether the strip search now includes a vbc search.
3. Upon return from exercise, a cellhouse 20 inmate is again strip searched and a vbc search is performed.
4. The inmate is cuffed with his hands behind him during this strip search and is escorted by two officers to the exercise area. In the exercise area, the cuffs are removed through a slot in the gate.
5. The exercise pen is shaken down each morning prior to exercise. The pens have a concrete floor and are surrounded by cyclone fence.
6. One tower has a view of these exercise pens but has responsibility for other areas as well.
7. One officer is specifically assigned to watch for inmates while in the two pens. Two additional officers are involved in escorting and may or may not be available for further supervision. When the exercise period is over, the inmate comes to the gate to be cuffed and is again strip searched with a vbc search included before returning to his cell.
8. Exercise for cellhouse 319, another segregation unit, is conducted in four pens with concrete floors. Three to four inmates are placed in each pen.
9. The cellhouse 319 inmate is strip searched in his cell prior to exercise and upon return is subjected to a body cavity search.
10. Cellhouse 319 inmates are escorted one on one to the exercise pen.
11. One officer will observe the exercise pen with others involved in escorting who may or may not be available for further supervision.
12. One tower has responsibility for viewing the 319 exercise pens as well as other areas.
13. When an inmate in cellhouse 20 or 319 has a visit, he is strip searched and subjected to a vbc search in the cellhouse. He is then placed in cuffs and shackles and escorted from the cellhouse. According to policy, he should not be given another strip search prior to his visit and he does not change clothes.
14. After returning to the cellhouse but prior to going to his cell, the inmate is strip searched again, including a vbc search.
15. General population inmates go through similar procedures before contact visits.
16. Two officers are normally stationed at the visiting room; one is inside the room and has responsibilities to check other areas, such as the public restrooms and the inmate restroom. The second officer is behind glass observing the visit. The officer behind the glass must watch two separate visiting areas and operate electric doors allowing visitors to enter and leave. It is difficult to watch both the visiting rooms at the same time.
This is the extent of the parties' stipulation of facts.
The evidence clearly demonstrated that the moving of any prisoner from cellhouse 20 or 319 is accomplished only after the officers have shackled the prisoner, placed him in a belly chain and handcuffs, which restricts his movement to a minimum. The evidence also demonstrated that a further confining "black box" for the hands is often used.
The use of the "squat and cough" search procedure has been used at the penitentiary but is not now being used.
There is little, if any, evidence that the penitentiary has had any problems with the introduction of contraband into the institution from attorneys, legal interns, clergymen or the ombudman's office and if, in the unlikely event that there are some future problems with such individuals, the defendants can promptly take necessary steps against such an individual or bring the situation to the attention of the Court.
At the hearing, testimony showed that there is a great concern among the prison administration about the flow of contraband, including drugs and weapons, into the prison from the outside and particularly into the segregation units. Testimony further indicated, however, that the vbc search policy, fully implemented on February 22, 1984, has caused nearly all, if not all, of the 25 inmates in cellhouse 319 to go without exercise since that date. Furthermore, there was testimony that the 40 inmates in cellhouse 20 have not exercised since March 5, 1984. Testimony by the plaintiff indicated that, because of the vbc search policy, he has foregone visits with his attorney in relation to a criminal action...
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Goff v. Nix
...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 ......
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