It’s a happy day for prison guards and correctional officers. The Supreme Court has just ruled 5-4 to uphold their right to strip-search inmates no matter how minor the offense, as long as they are destined for the general prison population. (Such as in the case of the African-American man arrested for failing to pay a past fine, which he had since paid off, and who was then ordered to submit to an invasive strip search.) The dissenting Justices said officers should need a “reasonable suspicion” that an inmate was hiding something (say weapons or contraband) before conducting such a search. But the majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy (above), said that detecting lice or gang tattoos was reason enough. So basically don’t get arrested, or you may have more than just your civil rights violated.
