Fourth Amendment

Chapter 10 provides a close look at to what extent Fourth Amendment provisions against unreasonable search and seizure applies within prisons and jails. The Court has held that prisoners have no reasonable expectation of privacy in their prison cells pursuant to Fourth Amendment. The Court’s analysis has most often turned on the “reasonableness” test. In Turner v. Safley (1987), the U.S. Supreme Court held that Individuals retain certain fundamental rights, even when incarcerated. However, in Hudson v. Palmer (1984), the Supreme Court ruled that prisoners have no reasonable expectation of privacy in their prison cells entitling them to Fourth Amendment protection. Considering what prison administrators/officers face with prison cell searches or searches of the person and the limited Fourth Amendment protections afforded to prisoners, what actions of prison administrators/officers should be considered unreasonable and unconstitutional? You can also provide an argument that prisoners should not enjoy any Fourth Amendment rights regardless of the situation. Refer to case law in Chapter 10 to support your answer. The article Rethinking Reasonable: Recognizing a Prisoner’s Expectation of Privacy Under the Fourth Amendment also provides excellent perspective/analysis.