Prisoner – 4th Amendment Violation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Delores Henry, et al., v. Melody Hulett, et al.,

Case No.: 16-4234

Officials: SYKES, Chief Judge, and FLAUM, EASTERBROOK, MANION, KANNE, ROVNER, WOOD, HAMILTON, BARRETT, BRENNAN, SCUDDER, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Prisoner – 4^th Amendment Violation

Plaintiffs—a class of more than 200 current and former female inmates at Lincoln Correctional Center—brought this action following mass strip searches conducted as part of a cadet training exercise in 2011. They contend that the circumstances of the searches—particularly the intrusive and degrading manner in which they occurred— violated their Fourth and Eighth Amendment rights.

Defendants—various prison officials—moved for summary judgment before the district court, arguing that our circuit’s prior decisions foreclosed Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claim. The district court agreed, concluding that, under Johnson v. Phelan, 69 F.3d 144 (7th Cir. 1995), and King v. McCarty, 781 F.3d 889 (7th Cir. 2015) (per curiam), convicted prisoners do not maintain a privacy interest during visual inspections of their bodies. A divided panel of our court affirmed that decision, following the same reasoning. We granted Plaintiffs’ petition for rehearing en banc and vacated the panel’s opinion and judgment.

We hold that the Fourth Amendment protects a right to bodily privacy for convicted prisoners, albeit in a significantly limited way, including during visual inspections. We therefore reverse the district court’s entry of partial summary judgment for Defendants on Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claim and remand for further proceedings.

Reversed and remanded

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.