Demery v. Arpaio.

• Position: Free speech rights - Brief Article

U.S. Appeals Court

PRETRIAL DETAINEES

PRIVACY

Demery v. Arpaio, 378 F.3d 1020 (9th Cir. 2004). Pretrial detainees brought an action seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent a county sheriff from continuing to use world-wide web cameras, or "webcams," to broadcast live images of the pretrial detainees on the Internet. The district court granted the request for an injunction and the sheriff appealed. The appeals court affirmed, finding that the use of webcams constituted punishment prior to adjudication of guilt, in violation of the due process clause. According to the court, the detainees were harmed by having every moment of their daily activities exposed to general and world-wide scrutiny, notwithstanding the sheriff's claim that the webcams served purposes of deterrence and...