Originally Posted by Vash02
sheppy, think of it from the prisons point of view. They have been handed a guy who they have been told broke the law. They dont know the details of each and every case that goes through their doors but they have a duty of care to their inmates and that means searching ALL prisoners for contraband and weapons.
The man in the case obviously has a case against the police department for arresting him in the first place and the state for not cancelling his warrant but I dont believe he had a case against the prison.
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I disagree.
While I understand that we live in a world of gray areas, I feel that we can err on both sides; by always assuming the best, or always assuming the worst.
Of course we would significantly reduce prison contraband and weapon smuggling by subjecting every single inmate to strip searches. The problem is, we are a country that respects the rights of everyone, inmates included. It's why we don't torture them, or sell them as property anymore. We recognize that they have rights that cannot be infringed. That's part of what
conceptually makes the USA a country worth living in.
We live in a world of gray areas and while that is inconvenient and will always lead to difficulty, the easy way out is rarely the best. I imagine we could cut crime significantly by existing in a perpetual police state, by installing cameras in everyone's house, and by subjecting everyone and anyone to random warrant-less searches. But the ends do not justify the means.
What we have right now is a situation where it is
very possible where an innocent, law abiding citizen can be arrested, detained for a week, and repeatedly subjected to invasive searches without any probable cause. Let's take it a step further. We not only live in a country where this is possible;
we live in a country where the highest court just endorsed it.
I would rather live in a society of dangerous gray areas, than a society of guaranteed safety at the cost of personal dignity and basic rights. More and more that country is not looking like the United States of America.