Opinion ID: 2280192
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Reasonableness of the Search and Seizure

Text: Appellant's principal argument is that the encounter was a search [2] and seizure, and that the search and seizure were unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment as applied to the states by the Fourteenth. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). Nason argues that the search was unreasonable under the holding of the United States Supreme Court in Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979), and, as such, evidence seized as a result of that search should not have been admitted at trial. In response, the State argues that if the institutional interests of the prison are properly weighed against the privacy interests of Nason to be free from intrusive searches and if the manner in which the search in this case was conducted is considered, it is clear that the search was reasonable. In Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979), the United States Supreme Court held that body cavity searches of prison inmates, conducted without probable cause, are not per se violative of the Fourth Amendment if conducted in a reasonable manner. The Court there recognized the wide variety of factors that should be considered in assessing the reasonableness of searches generally: The test of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment is not capable of precise definition or mechanical application. In each case it requires a balancing of the need for the particular search against the invasion of personal rights that the search entails. Courts must consider the scope of the particular intrusion, the manner in which it is conducted, the justification for initiating it, and the place in which it is conducted. 441 U.S. at 559, 99 S.Ct. at 1884. Specifically with respect to visual body cavity searches, the Supreme Court endorsed an analytical approach developed by the lower federal courts [3] when it balanced the significant and legitimate security interests of the institution against the privacy interests of the inmates. Id. at 560, 99 S.Ct. at 1885. Thus, in determining whether there has been a violation of the Federal Constitution, this Court must weigh carefully the legitimate interests of Maine's penal institutions in assessing the reasonableness of the search and seizure in Nason's case. The presence of scheduled drugs in prison communities poses serious risks to the interests of those institutions in security, discipline and rehabilitation. Accordingly, while prison inmates are not without privacy rights protected under the Fourth Amendment as applied to the states through the Fourteenth, the scope of those rights, in relation to the restraints they place on state-administered searches and seizures, is narrower than that of persons not imprisoned for conviction of a crime. Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974). Nason contends that the search was unreasonable in several respects. The record discloses no evidence tending to show what prison policy toward cavity searches was when Nason was searched. Nason thus argues that a person similarly situated would not reasonably expect a search of his rectal cavity upon admission to prison. Nason also points to the police officer's admonition that the search would be performed even if it took five guards to hold him down, the officer's refusal to allow an attorney to be present, and the intrusiveness of rectal cavity searches in general as factors compelling the conclusion that the search was unreasonable. The authorities had good reason to believe that Nason would attempt to smuggle scheduled drugs into prison. As the affidavit accompanying the search warrant plainly indicated, the state police and prison authorities were aware as a result of investigation that Nason planned to do so on November 1, 1979, in order to use and sell the drugs once inside. Also, the authorities were aware that Nason was being committed to prison because he had been convicted of a drug-related criminal offense. Those factors were sufficient to justify such a search on a person entering prison. See Bell v. Wolfish, supra, 441 U.S. at 558-60, 99 S.Ct. at 1881-85; United States v. Lilly, supra, at 1247; Brown v. Hilton, 492 F.Supp. 771, 777-78 (D.N.J.1980). [4] Evidence of record also provides rational support for the conclusion that the confrontation was conducted reasonably. Nason was read his rights, abusive language was not used, he was given an opportunity to remove the package of drugs himself, and he was allowed to remove it in a windowless room in the presence of only two officers both of whom were of the same sex as he. Further, he was told that if he refused to cooperate, medical personnel would conduct the search at the prison hospital. Where, as in this case, prison authorities take such steps to conduct the search in a reasonable manner, the absence of counsel does not render the otherwise reasonable intrusion unreasonable. United States v. Erwin, 625 F.2d 838, 841 (9th Cir. 1980). Nason's Fourth Amendment rights were not violated by the search in this case. Under the circumstances, the conduct by the authorities administering the search was both justified and sufficiently deferential to the privacy interests of the appellant.