NCJ Number
89801
Journal
New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1983) Pages: 203-247
Date Published
1983
Length
45 pages
Annotation
As a result of Bell v. Wolfish, detainees suffer virtually the same deprivation of constitutional rights as do convicted prisoners. The courts should employ an intermediate level of scrutiny to visitation restrictions that will protect the fundamental values nurtured by families' and friends' visits.
Abstract
Since detainees have not been tried and convicted, society's most important justification for detention should be ensuring the individual's appearance at trial. The Supreme Court in Wolfish, however, ignored the realities of the pretrial system and fashioned a standard of review too deferential toward prison officials. Lower courts have generally applied the rational basis standard developed in Wolfish to visiting restrictions, which allows prison officials to treat detainees the same as they do convicts in seeming disregard of the fundamental rights of detainees and their visitors. As a result, the lower courts have upheld restrictions on contact and conjugal visitation. A total of 392 footnotes are included. (Author summary modified)