Strip-Search Case Reflects Death of American Privacy
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-08/strip-search-case-reflects-death-of-american-privacy.html
Part of the issue I see here is the vast potential for abuse. On the one hand I feel that it is irresponsible for the state to NOT implement these sorts of searches when putting outsiders into general prison populations, so alternatives would require housing the arrest-ees individually. There is also the concern that some might seek to harm themselves, so it seems prudent to ensure that the arrest-ee is not carrying anything problematic. However, since simply arresting someone is basically a choice made by an officer on the street and there is, at that point, no room for due process or judicial evaluation, etc., these sorts of searches are thus subject to the whims of the arresting officer, which is a real problem in our ever deepening police state. There is already plenty of problems where the system turns a blind eye to abuse that is in fact illegal, I think it is problematic to enshrine abusive powers by making them part of the every day system.
This issue is compounded by the stated study results that showed an insignificant percentage of people were actually carrying things not detected by the conventional pat down or X-ray systems (not wild about X-raying people either, but that is what happens today just to get on a damn plane). If strip searching isn’t actually stopping anything from getting into the prison population (as the reported stats seem to make ironclad), then I can only see it being used as an institutional way of humiliating people who haven’t been given their due process and are thus basically guilty until proven innocent.
The balance point seems to me to be along the lines of only allowing this sort of search once someone has been formally charged (and thus presumably competently legally represented), denied bail (or unable to afford it) and thus needing to be introduced to the general prison population for long-term handling. It seems to me that prior to that point the arrest-ee should be held in a separate location independent of the general prison population. I am sure that, particularly in busy jurisdictions, it would be challenging (to say the least) to implement this sort of division, but guess what? Managing our legal system isn’t supposed to be something done at minimal cost, it should be done to maximise justice for society.
This reminds me of an article I read yesterday (but didn’t blog on) about the for-profit prison system working to further maximise our already world-leading system of incarceration. Man is our society in the toilet!
