Concur/dissent Powell End date 1979 | Dissent Marshall | |
Full case name Griffin Bell, Attorney General, et al. v. Wolfish, et al. Citations 441 U.S. 520 (more)
99 S. Ct. 1861; 60 L. Ed. 2d 447; 1979 U.S. LEXIS 100 Prior history Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Majority Rehnquist, joined by Burger, Stewart, White, Blackmun Ruling court Supreme Court of the United States Similar Farmer v Brennan, Hudson v McMillian, Graham v Connor, United States v Salerno, Ashcroft v Iqbal | ||
Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520 (1979), is a case in which the United States Supreme Court found that it was not a violation of the Fourth Amendment to perform intrusive body searches on pre-trial detainees.[1]
Significance
This case arose as a challenge to the conditions under which pretrial defendants are confined. The petitioners claimed that in the absence of a conviction, subjecting incarcerated defendants automatically to the same conditions as convicted felons was unconstitutional punishment. The federal district court agreed with this view, holding that defendants could only be deprived of liberty as a matter of "compelling necessity". It was also determined that The Supreme Court felt that the possible innocence of pre-trial detainees should not prevent corrections officials from taking necessary steps to maintain their facility.