AELE LAW LIBRARY OF CASE SUMMARIES:
Corrections Law for Jails, Prisons and
Detention Facilities
Strip Search: Visitors
256:60 Correctional
officers were entitled to qualified immunity for conducting strip search
of prison visitor after a tip was received that he would be smuggling heroin
into the prison; this information, combined with fact that prisoner was
incarcerated for a drug offense and that visitor was a co-defendant in
the criminal case provided reasonable suspicion for search. Varrone v.
Bilotti, 123 F.3d 75 (2nd Cir. 1997).
242:29 Prison
superintendent who ordered strip search of minor prison visitors was entitled
to qualified immunity from liability when he reasonably believed that tip
that they were smuggling in drugs was received from two unconnected confidential
informants, despite fact that tip actually came from a single, anonymous
and uncorroborated source; federal appeals court also rules that reasonable
suspicion is appropriate legal standard for strip searches of prison visitors.
Wood v. Clemons, 89 F.3d 922 (1st Cir. 1996).