Jailhouse Strip Searches Backed by U.S. Supreme Court Ruling

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The U.S. Supreme Court backed the use of strip searches of newly arrested people, saying that even people held for minor offenses might be smuggling in weapons or drugs.

Ruling 5-4 in a New Jersey case that pitted security concerns against privacy rights, the justices today said that when new inmates are being admitted into the general population of a jail, officials don’t need individualized suspicion before conducting a close inspection of private body parts.