Brown v. Polk County, Wisc.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants-prison officials’ motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-pre-trial detainee’s section 1983 action, alleging that defendants violated her Fourth Amendment rights by conducting body cavity search at hospital after defendants had received tips from other inmates that plaintiff was telling others that she had drugs inside her body. Although no drugs were ever found, no Fourth Amendment violation occurred, since defendants had reasonable and particularized suspicion that plaintiff was hiding drugs in her body given two reports from inmates that bore several signs of reliability that were based on alleged first-hand observations and on recent events. Ct. rejected plaintiff’s contention that instant search had to be supported by probable cause and conducted after issuance of warrant. Ct. further noted that search did not take long period of time to conduct, and that plaintiff was afforded some measure of privacy.