Opinion ID: 385707
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Visitation Rights

Text: 47 Although visitations rights in the old jail were minimal, this was apparently necessary because of the overcrowded conditions and the lack of necessary facilities. We have held that for convicted prisoners (v)isitation privileges are a matter subject to the discretion of prison officials. McCray v. Sullivan, 509 F.2d 1332, 1334 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 859, 96 S.Ct. 114, 46 L.Ed.2d 86 (1975). We have reserved the question whether convicted prisoners have a constitutional right to some form of visitation. Martin v. Wainwright, 525 F.2d 983, 984 n.3 (5th Cir. 1977). 12 48 Because convicted prisoners are being accorded visitation rights, subject to reasonable security requirements, there is no need to consider whether deprivation of visitation would violate constitutional requisites. 49 The plaintiffs claim that pretrial detainees are entitled to more and that they have a constitutional right to personal contact with their families and loved ones, to touch and hold their children and their spouses. There can be no doubt that this is a natural human desire and that deprivation of it is serious. Three circuit courts have considered whether the Constitution requires such privileges to be accorded pretrial detainees. See Jordan v. Wolke, 615 F.2d 749 (7th Cir. 1980); Inmates of Allegheny County Jail v. Pierce, 612 F.2d 754 (3d Cir. 1979); Feeley v. Sampson, 570 F.2d 364, 373 (1st Cir. 1978). 13 50 The Supreme Court in Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1872, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979), recognized that pretrial detainees' rights are determined by the due process clause. Physical contact may be denied them if it is a restraint reasonably related to the institution's interest in maintaining jail security. 441 U.S. at 539, 99 S.Ct. at 1874, 60 L.Ed.2d at 468. Under the standards set in that case, contact visitation may be denied for legitimate security reasons applicable either to all detainees or only to particular individuals. Whether or not contact visitation rights should be accorded pretrial detainees in the Jackson County jail can be decided only after a full hearing on the facilities available in both jails and the security requirements in each. 51 In Inmates of the Allegheny County Jail v. Pierce, 612 F.2d 754 (3d Cir. 1979), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of contact visitation by the district court based on testimony that the primary reason for the ban on contact visits was to prevent the introduction of contraband into the jail, the absence of evidence that the prohibition was adopted for purposes of punishment, and its own conclusion that the prohibition under the circumstances prevailing in the Allegheny County jail represented a reasonable choice by prison officials between alternative methods of protecting the legitimate security interests of the jail. 612 F.2d at 760. The Seventh Circuit, in Jordan v. Wolke, 615 F.2d 749 (7th Cir. 1980), reversed a district court order requiring the construction of new visiting facilities that would permit contact visitation. Compliance would require not only construction of new visitation facilities but the hiring of additional guards. 615 F.2d at 749. The Court applied Bell v. Wolfish standards and reversed these requirements. It concluded, apparently as a legal matter, that the denial of contact visitation in the Milwaukee County Jail was rationally related to the legitimate purpose of preserving prison security and order. 615 F.2d at 749. 52 What we require is an evidentiary hearing to which the Bell v. Wolfish due process standard may be applied. We reject only the Seventh Circuit's conclusion that we can ourselves determine the legitimate needs of a jail and the possible methods of permitting contact visitation.