McDonell v. Hunter, 84-1346

• Citation: 746 F.2d 785
• Decision Date: 02 November 1984
• Docket Number: No. 84-1346,84-1346
• Parties: Alan F. McDONELL, M. Lee Curran, and Sally Phipps, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Appellees, v. Susan HUNTER, Jean Sebek, Russell Behrends, and Harold Farrier, Appellants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

Page 785

746 F.2d 785

Alan F. McDONELL, M. Lee Curran, and Sally Phipps individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Appellees, v. Susan HUNTER, Jean Sebek, Russell Behrends, and Harold Farrier, Appellants.

No. 84-1346.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 8, 1984.

Decided Nov. 2, 1984.

Mark Hunacek, Asst. Atty. Gen., Des Moines, Iowa, for appellants.

Mark W. Bennett, Des Moines, Iowa, for appellees.

Before ARNOLD, FAGG and BOWMAN, Circuit Judges.

ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

This case involves policies of the Iowa Department of Corrections which permit strip searches, urinalyses, and blood tests of correctional officers and searches of the officers' cars. The District Court ¹ granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Department from conducting these searches except under specified conditions. We hold that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in granting this preliminary relief and therefore affirm its order.

I.

Plaintiff McDonell began work as a correctional officer at the Iowa Men's Reformatory in 1979. Upon starting his employment at this facility, McDonell signed a consent-to-search form. On January 17, 1984, prison officials informed McDonell that they had received information that he was seen the previous weekend with persons suspected of trafficking in illegal drugs. They asked him to take a urinalysis test. McDonell eventually refused to take the test and was fired on January 19. After this lawsuit was initiated, McDonell was reinstated but transferred to a different institution and lost ten days' pay.

The plaintiffs Sally Phipps and M. Lee Curran are correctional officers at Iowa Correctional Institution for Women. On August 2, 1983, they were told by prison officials that the Department planned to conduct strip searches, blood tests, and urinalyses on Department employees and were asked to sign a form consenting to such searches. Both women refused to sign the consent form, and they were told that they would be subject to compelled urinalyses, blood tests, strip searches, and searches of their vehicles, despite their refusal to sign the form.

The plaintiffs filed this lawsuit on January 31, 1984. After a hearing at which all parties participated, the District Court issued a temporary restraining order and then a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Department from conducting strip searches, blood tests, and urinalyses unless the searching officials have a reasonable suspicion, based on specific objective facts and reasonable inferences, that the employee is smuggling contraband or under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance. The court also enjoined the warrantless search of employees' automobiles parked outside the confines of a prison facility.

II.

On appeal, the defendants urge that the District Court erred in several respects: (1) in requiring a "reasonable suspicion" rather than a "mere suspicion" as the basis for conducting the strip searches and tests in question; (2) in holding that the consent form was not a valid waiver of Fourth Amendment rights; (3) in requiring a valid warrant or consent for searches of automobiles parked outside of the...