NCJ Number
242489
Date Published
February 2013
Length
40 pages
Annotation
This document provides a collection of case law summaries relating to cross-gender searches.
Abstract
This document provides an overview of cross-gender search cases in both State and Federal courts, focusing on what types of conduct most often result in individual and supervisory liability. Cases are organized into the 11 Circuits (with their corresponding States) and the DC Circuit. Citations are listed according to a successful inmate claim or a successful agency defense for female correctional staff/male inmate or male correctional staff/female inmate. Inmates and detainees retain a limited privacy right when detained in correctional settings, particularly in the context of cross-gender searches. Jurisdictions have approached the competing interests of privacy and cross-gender searches quite differently, finding liability for correctional officers, supervisors, and facilities under a variety of circumstances. These decisions are highly fact-sensitive, and the jurisprudence has evolved rapidly.