NEWARK, N.J. (WPIX) -- A federal judge has ruled thousands of strip searches carried out at jails in Burlington and Essex counties in New Jersey were illegal. U.S. District Court Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez says the searches violate the Fourth Amendment and are unconstitutional.The suspects who were searched were arrested for minor offenses, such as traffic tickets. The searches have been taking place at the Burlington County Jail and Essex County Correctional Facility since 2003.
Susan Chana Lask, who represents the plaintiffs, says approximately 10,000 people were strip searched. She says she plans to file a motion for a jury trial to determine damages. Lask says a jury could award as much as $10,000 to anyone who has been strip-searched while in custody for a minor offense. The plaintiffs may be entitled to millions of dollars.
At least eight similar suits are pending against jails in Union, Middlesex and Bergen counties.
Can there be people being "checked in" who may be hiding weapons? Sure. But strip and cavity searches for routine arrests are a bit excessive (I know cavity isn't mentioned in this article, but I know it happens in IL). You can find a weapon with a pat-down. The real purpose of these searches isn't safety, but degradation. They want to make the process of being arrested as difficult as possible, which allows them to harass innocent people. Take the case of Roderick Pritchett, for example:
The evening of Roderick Pritchett's descent into hell on earth started with an ordinary shopping trip to Safeway for his mom last November 21st. The 25 year-old African/Jamaican-American frequently ran errands for her; he was the sole car owner in his family.
On the way out of his south side Chicago apartment, he went back inside and grabbed his Taurus 9 mm pistol -- which was unloaded and in its case as Chicago law requires -- and tossed it in the passenger seat. Roderick liked to stop by the shooting range to practice his marksmanship once a week to stay sharp and keep his groupings tight.
In his wallet behind his driver's license was his FOID (Firearms Owner Identification Card) which he obtained before purchasing the gun in 2000. In accordance with the strict gun control laws enacted by Mayor Daley and the city legislature, Roderick kept the gun in his apartment and never carried it on his person. This seemed strange to him; the law essentially said that defending his property was more important than defending his life from the numerous predatory south side hoods. Pritchett however always followed the law, even the ones that defy common sense.
As he drove down South Ada St. toward the range, he noticed a police car tailing him. It was early evening and Roderick was a young black man with dreadlocks driving alone. In Chicago, that's lights-and-siren time. Sure enough, Police Officer Edward Kos and Officer Rodolfo Camarillo pulled him over at 87th and Ada for a burned out taillight.
The officers approached and asked if he would mind if they searched his car. Pritchett didn't object. He knew beyond a doubt that his 9 mm was 100 percent legal. He even had a copy of the Illinois gun laws in his case. When he handed over his driver's license, he also gave them his FOID and volunteered that he had a legal firearm in the vehicle. He knew he had nothing to fear.
Unfortunately, his confidence was short-lived. The police ordered him to take a seat in the back of their black-and-white. "The officers began questioning me from the front seat of their squad car before they even let me know I was under arrest," says Pritchett. "They giggled a couple of times before sarcastically asking me why I didn't run. I was shocked speechless at their rude treatment of me."
Pritchett couldn't understand why they were hassling him. With all the crime in the city, why should they bother someone with a legal gun? He pleaded that he was only going to the range and that his gun was legal, but to no avail. Pritchett was arrested for violating 720 ILCS 5/24-1.6 Aggravated Unlawful Use of Weapons.
One of the officers left the squad car and got behind the wheel of Pritchett's station wagon to drive it to the station. Apparently, Officers Kos and Camarillo were either ignorant of the laws regarding the legal transportation of firearms, or chose to ignore them. In any case, Roderick Pritchett was on his way to 72 hours of misery that he would never forget.
Pritchett had his legal gun confiscated and was transported to the Cook County lockup and charged with a Class 4 Felony. Next, he endured the standard treatment of any run-of-the-mill accused felon within Chicago city limits -- a quite thorough strip search that left no body orifice sacred, incarceration, long days and sleepless nights in a cramped, urine-stinking cell chockablock with accused rapists and thieves, and meals of stale bread and cold soup in the company of accused child molesters and slightly more palatable muggers.
When his mother finally scraped together the $500 bond to secure his release three days later, Pritchett had one more treat awaiting him, courtesy of the Chicago PD -- a $700 fee to spring his station wagon from the impound lot. He begged the police before they impounded his car to let his girlfriend pick it up. The cops refused.
Maybe I'm a little jaded from growing up in Cook County, IL. I've been fortunate that in all my dealings with (suburban) police, they've always been professional and courteous. But I'm also white and middle class, and I haven't done anything to get myself on, say, Dick Devine's shit list (at least I don't think so). So for the most part, I do trust the police, but strip/cavity searches at arrest pushes that trust beyond its limit. I see what you're doing there, and it's not OK.
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