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5 N.J. AGs opposed to counties’ strip search policy

Published January 20, 2010

Five former New Jersey attorneys general joined forces Tuesday in opposing Burlington and Essex County’s policy of strip searching people charged with minor offenses even when there is no reasonable suspicion they could be hiding weapons or contraband.

“Strip searching every detainee is unconstitutional, it contributes little to jail security and it creates an intolerable risk of subjecting detainees to needless humiliation,” said Ed Barocas, Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union’s New Jersey chapter.

“There is no legitimate reason for these types of policies to exist and they must be revoked,” Barocas in a statement.

The ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of former Attorneys General Robert J. Del Tufo, Deborah T. Poritz, John J. Farmer Jr., Peter C. Harvey and Zulima V. Farber.

Burlington and Essex officials are appealing a ruling last year by U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez in Camden that blanket strip searches at the two county jails violated the constitutional rights of people detained for minor offenses.

The ruling opened the door for upwards of 10,000 people — arrested for petty crimes or violations such as failure to pay child support — to claim damages for being unlawfully strip-searched at the Burlington County Jail and the Essex County Correctional Facility since 2003. It also could bolster a handful of similar suits challenging strip search policies in Bergen and other counties.

Rodriguez ruled in a class-action suit brought by Albert Florence, a finance director from Bordentown who was arrested after a traffic stop in March 2005 on a warrant erroneously issued for a fine he had already paid.

He charged officials at the two jails with unconstitutionally subjecting him to strip searches despite a lack of reasonable suspicion. During the week he was detained at both jails, he was ordered to stand or squat naked in front of prison guards and to lift his genitals

“Being forced to strip naked is humiliating, and people charged with minor crimes shouldn’t be strip searched unless there’s a reason to think they’re hiding something,” said David Shapiro, staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project.

The two counties defended their intake procedures and policies in court, arguing they are not only necessary to prevent smuggling of contraband but also to identify gang members — through body markings, tattoos and piercings – and keep them apart to avert violence.

In their amicus brief, the former attorneys generals noted that Judge Rodriguez’s ruling was in line with previous federal rulings banning strip searches of low-level arrestees unless jail officials can prove reasonable suspicion that the inmate may have drugs, guns or other illegal contraband. The standard of reasonable suspicion still allows prison officials to use broad discretion in determining if a strip search is necessary, the ACLU said.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010
BY PETER J. SAMPSON
The Record
STAFF WRITER