Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders: Maintaining Jail Security While Stripping Detainees of Their Constitutional Rights

Nina Gleiberman

In Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Supreme Court of the United States considered whether a strip search policy conducted on a pretrial detainee—before entering the general jail population for a minor traffic-related offense—violated his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The Court deferred to the judgment of correctional officials who devised the search policies and held that the strip search was constitutional, striking a balance between inmate privacy and the security needs of correctional institutions.

Although maintaining safety at detention centers requires the expertise of correctional officials, the Supreme Court, in Florence, gave too much discretion to detention center administrators to develop search policies, and the Court improperly balanced the need for the strip searches against detainees' privacy interests. As a result of its unlimited deference to the judgment of correctional institution administrators, the Court disregarded the importance of a reasonable suspicion standard for conducting such intrusive searches. The Supreme Court should have limited institutional discretion in determining intake procedures, specifically strip searches performed on individuals arrested for minor offenses prior to their admittance to the jail's general population. These limitations should reflect recommended policies of the American Bar Association (“ABA”), which incorporate a reasonable suspicion standard for conducting strip searches on people who have committed minor crimes, such as the detainee in Florence.