NCJ Number
86128
Journal
Criminal Justice Journal Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: (Fall 1980) Pages: 199-222
Date Published
1980
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This note discusses the issue of whether pretrial detainees in California, a group distinct from convicted prisoners, can and should be granted greater rights to privacy.
Abstract
The traditional view that privacy of a pretrial detainee's correspondence or conversation is subject to intrusion by virtue of the condition of incarceration continues to be sustained at the Federal level. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bell v. Wolfish (1979) exhibited the same attitude toward fourth amendment rights of incarcerated persons as that maintained in Stroud v. United States (1919). Lower Court California decisions have followed traditional views that privacy rights for pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners are basically ignored. However, recent decisions by California appellate courts have held that privacy rights remain intact even when a person is incarcerated unless the State can show compelling justification for infringement based on valid penological objectives. The most commonly stated objectives are institutional security and protection of the public. The fundamental right to privacy enunciated in the California Constitution has been recognized by these courts as providing pretrial detainees with a greater expectation of privacy while in jail than had been acknowledged previously. The note provides 163 footnotes. (Author summary modified)