U.S. Appeals Court: SEARCHES MEDICAL SCREENING.

• Position: Prisoners and prisons - Brief Article

Skurstenis v. Jones 236 F.3d 678(11th Cir. 2000). A female detainee brought an action against a county sheriff and sheriffs department staff, alleging that a strip search of her pelvic region violated her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment in part and denied it in part. The appeals court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded in part. The appeals court held that the jail policy that required each inmate to be strip-searched by a same-sex jail staff member, before being placed in a cell or detention room, violated the Fourth Amendment. But the court found that the detainees possession of a handgun at the time of her arrest provided the "reasonable suspicion" needed to permit her strip search. The detainee...