On July 19, 1996 Plaintiff filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. §1983 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District Alabama challenging the Lee County Jail policy of conducting strip-searches before all detainees were placed into cells. Plaintiff was arrested for driving while under the influence and was forced to strip down to her underwear in the presence of a female guard. A second plaintiff filed a similar suit on January 8, 1997, alleging that she was strip searched naked after being arrested on bad check charges. The lawsuits of both women were consolidated.

On January 20, 1998, the District Court (Chief Judge Harold Albritton, III) granted summary judgment to the defendants and dismissed the plaintiffs' claims. Judge Albritton ruled that the Lee County policy of conducting limited strip-searches of all pretrial detainees prior to placing them into cells was reasonable within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Magill v. Lee County, 990 F.Supp. 1382 (M.D.Ala. 1998). Plaintiffs appealed and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed without a reported opinion. Magill v. Lee County, 161 F.3d 22 (11th Cir. 1998) (Table).

Dan Dalton - 08/08/2007


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