Resource: Ventura County v. Way

By: Public Citizen

October 1, 2006

Public Citizen

May county jail officials, consistent with the Fourth Amendment, conduct a visual body-cavity strip search of a person arrested on a misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance, pursuant to a blanket county policy requiring that such searches be conducted on all persons arrested on such a charge, in the absence of reasonable suspicion that the individual arrestee is concealing weapons or contraband in her body cavities and without regard to whether the arrestee will enter the general jail population.

Bonnie Robin-Vergeer of Public Citizen was co-counsel for the respondent at the cert stage, and the Supreme Court denied cert.

https://www.citizen.org/litigation/ventura-county-v-way/