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Analysis: Judge finds some strips searches at Cook County Jail unconstitutional
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Federal Judge Matthew F. Kennelly issued Monday a ruling on a class action lawsuit representing more than 300,000 former Cook County Jail detainees, and he found that some issues were so clear-cut that there was no reason to bring them before a jury.
1. Fourth Amendment violations
There were two plaintiff classes in the lawsuit. One class includes male and female detainees charged with misdemeanor offenses who were strip-searched, including a visual body cavity search, upon intake at the jail.
Cook County officials claimed that strip searches were necessary to keep detainees from bringing contraband into jail, and that weapons and drugs were "routinely" found in the possession of detainees. They submitted 2,000 pages of contraband reports gathered over several years, but only a few of these involve dangerous contraband, and most of the reports don't indicate whether contraband was found in the detainee's body or in detainee's clothes prior to a strip search.
Citing numerous precedents, Judge Kennelly wrote that jail officials conducted these intrusive searches without reasonable suspicion and with no regard to the seriousness of the charges against each detainee. He concluded that these policies violated detainees' Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The other plaintiff class includes all males who were subjected to a strip search and/or a visual body cavity search. Before jail officials installed privacy screens in the hallway where the men were strip-searched, they were exposed to each other and often touched each other during the searches, and Kennelly found that these instances also violated the Fourth Amendment.
2. Fourteenth Amendment violations
The handling of male and female detainees during the period covered in the lawsuit differed in three ways: Females were always provided a body scanning machine and were strip-searched in privacy screens, but men were not given the same benefits until early 2007. Additionally, women were always asked to squat and cough during strip searches — a method that is considerably more dignified than the bend-over-and-spread-cheeks requirement males were subjected to until some point in 2006.
Again citing numerous precedents, Kennelly wrote that the gender-based differences in treatment violated the male detainees' rights under the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. He also found that the way male strip searches were conducted before privacy screens were installed qualified as “unreasonably harsh treatment meted out to inmates who have not yet been convicted of any crime" in violation of the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (the lawsuit doesn't pertain to convicts serving prison time, only to suspects held in jail pre-trial).
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"Ex-inmates win suit over strip searches," read the headline to a Chicago Tribune blurb on the ruling last night. This lies somewhere between oversimplification and inaccuracy; what the plaintiffs won so far is a moral victory.
Michael Kanovitz of Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law, who represented the former inmates, said he was not surprised by yesterday's ruling. "There were no novel legal issues in the case," he said. "There were many clear precedents. What is unusual is how brutal Cook County policies were." Jail officials may argue otherwise, but even the expert witness employed by their defense attorneys acknowledged that their strip search practices were harsher than in any other U.S. jurisdiction.
But Kanovitz pointed out that the case is far from over; the judge left several issues to be resolved at a jury trial, particularly questions over whether male detainees have been appropriately treated since privacy screens were installed — and after a trial victory there would still be the process of determining a monetary award for his clients.
But regardless of the payout, Kanovitz said the class action aims to provide more dignity for future Cook County detainees, noting that jail officials only changed some of their policies on male strip searches after individual lawsuits were filed. "This case is a staggering display of Cook County officials' hubris in believing that they were above the law," Kanovitz said.
More on prison reform:
- Graphic details of Cook County strip searches
- What the Tribune didn't say about Tamms supermax
- Lisa Madigan urged to probe Burge torture cases
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