[0] U.S. District Court: CONTRACT SERVICES.

Skurstenis v. Jones, 81 F.Supp.2d 1228 (N.D.Ala. 1999). A female non-felony detainee brought a [sections] 1983 action against a sheriff and jail personnel alleging that a strip serach of her pelvic region violated her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The district court held that the strip search of the detainee upon her entry into the jail was not supported by probable cause but that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity from liability for the search. But the court found the defendants liable for violations of the detainee's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights as the remit of physical touching and inspection of her exposed pelvic region during an inspection for lice. The court found that this pelvic search was not reasonable or supported by probable cause. The physical touching and inspection of the pelvic region was conducted by an unidentified male dressed in blue jeans and a t-shirt who the detainee later learned allegedly worked for a medical center retained by the sheriff. The cour t noted that the detainee was held in a single-occupant cell, had no contact with anyone outside of the jail after she was arrested, and did not meet with any visitors or have any opportunity to acquire or hide a weapon or contraband. The court also noted that the detainee was in the process of leaving the jail when she was required to expose herself to the hands-on search. The detainee had been admitted to the jail because of her degree of intoxication and was required to stay overnight. On admission she was required to disrobe, face the wall and to squat and cough. In its decision the judge stated "How a woman as inebriated as Skurstenis allegedly could squat without toppling is a scientific question worthy of exploration at some other time and place." (Shelby County Jail, Alabama)