Mack v. Suffolk County

191 F.R.D. 16, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4007, 2000 WL 194657
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedFebruary 16, 2000
DocketNo. Civ.A. 98-12511-NG
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 191 F.R.D. 16 (Mack v. Suffolk County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mack v. Suffolk County, 191 F.R.D. 16, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4007, 2000 WL 194657 (D. Mass. 2000).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

GERTNER, District Judge.

Plaintiff Katrina Mack (“Plaintiff” or “Mack”) and four potential intervenors (“Plaintiffs”) seek to represent a class of women subjected to strip-searches and visual body cavity inspections during pre-arraignment detention at the Suffolk County jail. The searches were not episodic. They were conducted pursuant to an official policy of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s office. They were conducted regardless of the charge; every single female pre-arraignment detainee was required to be strip-searched, whether detained for a misdemeanor or a felony. One Plaintiff was charged with driving while int'oxicated and leaving the scene of an accident, and another, with peddling without a license. ' There was no requirement that there was individualized suspicion that the women were carrying weapons or contraband.

Plaintiff brings an Equal Protection Clause claim under the Fourteenth Amendment against Defendant City of Boston (“City”) and Fourth Amendment claims against both the City and Defendants Suffolk County, Jane Doe, and Richard J. Rouse, the Suffolk County Sheriff (“Suffolk County Defendants”).

She also moves for class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) and 23(b)(2) and (b)(3), and seeks to represent:

All women1 who, from December 10, 1995, forward, were or who will in the future be:
a. taken into custody by the Boston Police Department and transferred pursuant to Boston Police Department rules regarding the custody of female prisoners to the Suffolk County Jail to be held pending a first court appearance, or after an arrest on a default warrant; and,
b. subjected to a routine strip-search and visual body cavity search at the Suffolk County Jail pursuant to the policy of conducting a strip-search and visual body cavity search of every person who is admitted to the jail.

Also before this Court is a motion brought by Joanne Maniscalco, Christine Daley, Denise Gasparini, and Alice Buckley to intervene in this action pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(b)(2). The motion to intervene is assented to by Plaintiff and essentially mirrors Plaintiff’s complaint.

Because I find that the Defendants acted on grounds generally applicable to the class, that Mack, Plaintiffs, and the proposed class all share common questions of law which predominate over individual issues, and that [18]*18a class action would be the most efficient and just means of resolving this dispute, Plaintiffs Second Motion for Class Certification is GRANTED.

The motion to intervene of Plaintiffs Joanne Maniscalco, Christine Daley, Denise Gasparini, and Alice Buckley, is GRANTED since (1) they meet the requirements of Fed. R.Civ.P. 23(a)(b), (2) Defendants were on ■ notice of their claims as potential class members since the filing of the complaint, and (3) Plaintiff Katrina Mack has assented to their intervention.

1. BACKGROUND

Women arrested in the City of Boston are, as a matter of City policy,2 transported to the Suffolk County Jail for detention pending an initial court appearance; regional police station lockups, for the most part, do not have adequate facilities. In contrast, men arrested in Boston are held in-police lock-ups until arraignment. Until May 24, 1999, all persons committed to the custody of the Suffolk County Sheriffs Department were subjected to a strip-search and a visual body cavity search at the time they were admitted.3 Because Suffolk County holds female pre-ar-raignment detainees for the City, only female detainees had to suffer through the uniform strip-search policy. Male pre arraignment detainees, held in police station lock-ups, were only strip-searched when an officer had reasonable suspicion to believe that the ar-restee had contraband or weapons in his possession.

On March 5, 1998, Plaintiff Mack was arrested by a Boston police officer. She was charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicating liquor and leaving the scene of an accident after causing property damage. After being booked in a Boston police station, Plaintiff was transported to the Suffolk County Jail on Nashua Street, where she was subjected to a strip-search and a visual body cavity search by a female officer. She was asked to take off all of her clothing, and to bend over and spread the cheeks of her buttocks in order to allow for a visual inspection of her genital area and anus. She claims that she suffered from extreme emotional distress as a result of this search.

The four intervening Plaintiffs were also arrested in Boston, transported to the Suffolk County Jail, subjected to a strip-search and a visual body cavity search, and allegedly suffered extreme emotional distress as a result. Maniscalco and Gasparini were charged with peddling without a license and larceny under $250 respectively. Daley and Buckley were charged with assault and battery.

A. The Allegations

1. Fourth Amendment Allegations

Plaintiff claims that the strip-search and visual body cavity inspection to which she, and women in the class she seeks to represent, were subjected violated her Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The First Circuit allows strip-searches to be conducted only if the official conducting the search has reason to believe that the individual searched is concealing weapons or contraband. Swain v. Spinney, 117 F.3d 1, 7 (1st Cir.1997) (strip-search must be based upon a reasonable suspicion that individual was concealing contraband or weapons); Blackburn v. Snow, 771 F.2d 556, 564-5 (1st Cir.1985) (prison’s blanket strip-search policy unconstitutional due to lack of particularized suspicion justifying searches).

2. Equal Protection Allegations

Plaintiff also alleges that the City violated her right to Equal Protection under the law by sending only female pre-arraignment detainees to the Suffolk County Jail where they [19]*19would be subject to the Suffolk County Defendant’s blanket strip-search policy. In its opposition to Plaintiffs Second-Motion for Class Certification, the City concedes that similarly situated women and men are treated differently: “all BPD [Boston Police Department] female prisoners who do not make bail prior to arraignment and when the courts are closed are transported to the Jail [Suffolk County Jail] (and consequently strip-searched), whereas similarly situated men are housed in Area lockups (and consequently, not necessarily strip-searched).”4

II. DISCUSSION
A. Standing and Mootness

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
191 F.R.D. 16, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4007, 2000 WL 194657, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mack-v-suffolk-county-mad-2000.