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Clothing

     A mentally disturbed man arrested for assaulting an officer was forcibly dressed in pink underwear at the county jail, and yelled out that he was being "raped" (which was not the case). Following his release on bail, and hearing that there was a warrant for his arrest for spitting on an officer during the dress out, he ran away from his home, fearing another arrest. Running four or five miles, he died the next day from acute cardiac arrhythmia. A federal appeals court found that his estate validly stated a federal civil rights claim, and that testimony was properly offered to show that the decedent experienced a "sense of humiliation at being forced to wear pink."

     With no explanation or defense offered for the practice of dressing detainees in pink, the practice "appears to be punishment without legal justification." The trial court acted properly, however, in excluding testimony by the plaintiff's expert that the dress-out procedure was "probably" the cause of his death. That testimony failed to take into account "generally accepted facts" that cardiac arrhythmia occurred at a generally higher rate among schizophrenics, and explain how that and the fact that stress could render the condition fatal were enough to pinpoint the specific incident that caused the death. Family members should not have been barred from testifying about what the decedent told them about his experiences, for the purpose of showing his state of mind in reaction to it. Wagner v. County of Maricopa, #10-15501, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 4721 (9th Cir.).

Diet

     Serving a prisoner "nutriloaf" during a number of stays in a county jail could constitute cruel and unusual punishment and deliberate indifference to a serious health problem when it allegedly resulted in a "veritable epidemic" of vomiting on his part, as well as stomach pains and constipation. Jail officials could be liable if they knew that the food was causing these problems, yet made no attempt to remedy them. The court defined nutriloaf (also spelled "nutraloaf") as "a bad-tasting food given to prisoners as a form of punishment," adding that "it is colloquially known as 'prison loaf' or 'disciplinary loaf'." The jail allegedly had a policy under which nutriloaf was the sole and exclusive food served to prisoners transferred from a state prison to the jail when they had been in segregation prior to the transfer. Prude v. Clarke, #11-2811, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 6236 (7th Cir.).

Inmate Property

     A prison did not violate the First Amendment, Eighth Amendment, or Fourteenth Amendment rights of a prisoner suffering from chronic medical conditions by refusing to permit him to possess copies of the books "Physician's Desk Reference," and "the Complete Guide to Drugs." While the prisoner argued that he should be allowed to have these books to learn about possible side effects to medications he was prescribed for his medical problems, it was reasonable to limit prisoner access to books about drugs. Munson v. Gaetz, # 11–1532, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 4960 (7th Cir.).

Jail and Prison Conditions: General

     A visitor to New Orleans was arrested for public intoxication and placed in the local jail just before Hurricane Katrina struck. He and other pretrial detainees were moved to higher cell tiers when water began rising in their cells, but in their new location, they were in their cells for days without water or food. Eventually evacuated by boat to a highway overpass with thousands of others from local detention facilities, he allegedly experienced additional thirst, hunger, and heat. The failure to bring him to court within 48 hours for a probable cause determination was excused by an emergency situation exception to the general rule, barring his false imprisonment claim. The failure to give him back his cell phone to allow him to call his attorney when the jail phone system was overloaded did not violate his rights under the circumstances because of the dangers of allowing detainees to possess cell phones. There was no liability for the various hardships cause by the circumstances of the hurricane. Waganfeald v. Gusman, #11-30081, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 5139 (5th Cir.).

Medical Care

     A prisoner serving a one year sentence was denied a course of treatment for Hepatitis C because his sentence was not long enough to provide for proper evaluation and treatment. When he was convicted again and returned to prison, he was denied treatment again based on his past drug abuse under a requirement that he successfully complete a substance abuse program first. His assertion that the true reason he was denied treatment was financial stated a possible Eighth Amendment claim. He could also proceed with his disability discrimination claim on the basis that his drug addiction could be regarded as a disability. The trial court's conclusion that a defendant doctor was entitled to qualified immunity was improperly conclusory. Hilton v. Wright, #10–135, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 5012 (2nd Cir.).

Prisoner Death/Injury

     A schizophrenic man arrested for an attempted bank robbery often refused to take his medication, bathe or eat while in a county jail. He was transported back and forth between a number of mental health facilities and the jail on a number of occasions. While at the jail pending a transfer to a state psychiatric institution, he died from excessively drinking water ("psychogenic polydipsia."). While his estate could pursue claims concerning the sanitary condition of his cell (despite the fact that he may have helped cause the conditions, based on his mental incompetence, there was no basis that any of the defendants were liable for his death, absent any evidence that they were on notice that he might compulsively engage in water drinking to the extent that it would put his life in danger. Estate of Rice v. Correctional Medical Services, #09–2804, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 5728 (7th Cir.),

Religion

     A prisoner who claimed that her Bible, rosary beads and other religious materials were taken during a shakedown of her cell while she was in punitive segregation and were not subsequently returned stated a claim for violation of her right to religious freedom. One judge on the three-judge panel believed that going forward on the claim as to the deprivation of the rosary beads was improper because the prison prohibited an inmate in segregation "to possess any item, including rosary beads, that could be wrapped around the neck to commit suicide." Kendrick v. Pope, #11-1564, 671 F.3d 686 (8th Cir. 2012).

Sex Offenders

     Nevada's retroactive application of heightened sex offender registration and notification requirements were constitutionally permissible, and were not shown to violate the due process, double jeopardy, contract, or ex post facto clauses of the Constitution. The appeals court rejected the argument that the change violated the terms of plea bargain contracts entered into prior to its enactment. The state had agreed not to retroactively enforce harsher restrictions on residency and movement, so the lawsuit did not validly challenge them. American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada v. Masto, #08-17471, 670 F.3d 1046 (9th Cir. 2012).

Strip Searches: Prisoners

****Editor's Case Alert****

     Subjecting an arrestee taken into custody on civil contempt charges to a strip search at a county jail did not violate his constitutional rights. County jail and county correctional facility rules could mandate such searches for persons entering the general population and did not have to limit strip searches to persons reasonably suspected of possessing drugs, weapons, or other contraband. Security interests in preventing smuggling at the time of prisoner intake is as strong as the interest in preventing it during contact visits. Jails need not show a past history of smuggling problems to justify such searches, and the strip searches helped deter smuggling. Applying the search policy to all arrestees also helped promote equal treatment. Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of County of Burlington, #10-945, 2012 U.S. Lexis 2712.

     Editor's note: For a more detailed discussion of this case, see "Visual strip searches at jail intake of persons being placed in general population need not be supported by reasonable suspicion," by Jack Ryan, PATC Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (April 2012).

Voting

     Election officials were not liable for failing to send an absentee ballot for voting to a detainee in a county jail. After the jail staff held a voter registration drive to encourage detainees to apply for absentee ballots, the plaintiff submitted an application, but he lacked standing to sue election officials since his application had listed his home address rather than his address at the jail. His claim that they would have refused to mail his absentee ballot to the jail address had he provided it was completely speculative. Swann v. Secretary, State of Georgia, #10–14901, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 1967 (11th Cir.).

•Return to the Contents menu.

     Federal Prisons: Quick Facts About the Bureau of Prisons (Updated March 24, 2012).

     Female Prisoners: "The Top 5 Facts About Women in Our Criminal Justice System: Many Face Difficulties During and After Incarceration," by Julie Ajinkya, Center for American Progress (March 7, 2012).

    Research: New York Corrections Research Studies And Legislative Reports.

Reference:

     • Abbreviations of Law Reports, laws and agencies used in our publications.

     • AELE's list of recently-noted jail and prisoner law resources.