432 Project 2 Adelphi County Jail - 1375 Words

432 Project 2: Adelphi County Jail (Essay Sample) Content: 432 project 2NameCourseInstructorDate Introduction In deciding on the right course of action for prisoners, officials need to take into account institutional needs and the right to privacy. The case presented for Adelphi County Jail, is relevant to understand the role of privacy rights when officials carry out searches. Even though, the Fourth Amendment guarantees privacy against unreasonable searches and seizures, these privileges do not extent to prisoners. Nonetheless, this is applicable to the extent that the searches should not have harmful consequences on prisoners (Clear, Reisig Cole, 2012). Similarly, the Eighth Amendment is relevant to the case as the Constitution guarantees that no American citizen should suffer cruel and unusual punishment (Siegel Bartollas, 2013). This project focuses on the depth of the proposed consent decree, including the situation, the policy and procedure, directive, and the appellate court decision as well as the extent to which t he consent decree is over and under inclusive. Depth of the Proposed Consent Decree The consent decree is enforceable and binding to the parties involved, but it is also different from the court trial. The proposed consent decree adequately covers the policies and procedures of the case matter. This is especially because there is no change in the substantive change in both prisoners rights. Additionally, the guidelines established merely broaden the meaning and scope of guidelines to be followed in cases where officers need to search the inmates rooms. At the same time, the consent broadly captures the decree by judges in the appellate court. Overall, the Proposed Decree Consent has been created in view of the circumstances prevailing during cell search, as it is necessary to carry out the reasonable searches to achieve the intended objective.The Fourth Amendment captures the need to secure people, effects, houses and papers against arbitrary searches and seizures. Nonetheless, thi s Amendment is enforceable incases where the searches are conducted because there is probable cause that is supported by affirmation or oath to the extent that the place to be searched has been described, together with the things and persons to be seized. The proposed consent decree adequately captures the intention and purpose in adhering to the Fourth Amendment as the decree gives guidelines on the extent to which the cells are to be searched randomly and routinely. The decree consent is broader than the original guidelines giving specific instances where the searches are to be conducted, rather than simply making broad declarations Even though, Jack Jones has been convicted based on material found in the cell indicated the possible location of the murdered couple, there is concern that the actions undertaken to search the room did not adequately follow the due procedure. Nonetheless, prisoners the searches were not entirely unreasonable given that there is loss of rights for pr isoners in order to maintain the safety and security of the prison system. In other words, it would be almost impossible for to avoiding relying on random and warrantless search of inmate cells since the inmates are not accorded the same privacy rights like the no prison population as held in U.S. v Hitchcock (1972) (Clear, Reisig Cole 2012). Equally, the drawing found in Jacks belongings were not contraband, but material sufficient for the judges to convict the inmate. The proposed consent decree adequately covers the situation given that the actions of officers are reasonably justified given the likelihood that there was contraband material in the jail cell. Since, inmates have diminished rights unlike law abiding citizens the question of limited privacy rights arises in the case. Even though, Jack Jones had not been convicted before the inmate cell search was conducted, the situation mirrored that of a convicted prisoner. Searches are reasonable in the prison system, but it is the way the searches are conducted that may show whether the extent of reasonableness clause of the Fourth Amendment (Harr et al., 2013). The proposed decree consent is relevant to protect the privacy right, given that there is a need to ensure that the searches ought to be designed to avoid violating this right while they should also help to ascertain whether there is contraband. Proposed Consent Decree and under-inclusiveness The guidelines provided in the proposed consent decree are not sufficiently inclusive to the extent that they do not adequately cover the intended purpose of the law and actions. For a pretrial detainee, the case for their constitutional rights often revolves around the argument that their treatment ought to be mindful of instances in which actions can be considered cruel and unusual punishments (Siegel Bartollas, 2013). The Proposed Decree Consent highlighted on instances in which searches could be conducted, but did not elaborate more on the treatment of the inmates during this time. The prison officials and those administering the prison system are left to decide whether cases are referred to state officials, even if their treatment of the inmates could be considered to have violated their limited privacy rights.Inmates have the right to seek redress for grievances as shown by the case, and the payments made are the damages necessary for the parties to agree on the proposed Consent Decree. The random cell search emphasizes on a random, documented system for various units, in cases where the prison officials have the permission of the Shift Commander. However, the provisions failed to highlight on what would be considered fair and equal treatment, and as such there is a need for broader guidelines. In any case, it is not clear if the searches are believed to be random given that there is likelihood of bias in the selection of units when conduct searches. The guideline was based on the assumption that once the prison officials ident ified the selected units, then this would be duly followed, but searches would probably be more elaborate for certain prisoners more than others. According to Brill (2008), Consent Decrees have played a prominent role towards limiting unconstitutional violations of prisoners, with equitable remedies being the most common course of actions utilized by federal judges. Ideally, the litigants negotiate terms in the consent decrees, but in the case there was less input from the plaintiffs. Even with there being limited privacy rights, there were no provisions to ensure that they did correct constitutional violations. In other words, the proposed policies were merely adopted as a measure to ensure equitable relief without the need to make the facts of the lawsuits open to the publicProposed Consent Decree and over-inclusivenessThe classification of guidelines as being over inclusive focuses on circumstances where people in similar situations are placed in the same category even when ther e are persons who need not be included (Palmer, 2013). The Proposed Consent Decree is both under and over-inclusive. ...