Hudson strongvstrong. Palmer Return to the Hands-Off Approach to.pdf

Pace Law R eview Volume 5 Article 3 Issue 4 S mmer 1985 J une 1985 Hudson v. Palmer: Return to the Hands-Off Appr oach to Prisoners Rights? Patricia Yak Follow this and additional works at : http://digitalcommons.pac . du/plr R comm nd d Citation Patricia Yak, H dson v. Palmer: Ret rn to the Hands-Off Approach to Prisoners Rig hts?, 5 Pac L. R v. 781 (1985) Available at : http://digitalcommons.pac . du/plr/vol5/iss4/3 This Article is brought to you for fr e and op n acc ss by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pac . It has b n acc pt d for inclusion in Pace Law R vi w by an authoriz d administrator of DigitalCommons@Pac . For more information, pl ase contact cpittson@law.pac . du. Hudson v. Palmer: Return to the Hands- Off Approach to Prisoners Rights? I. Introduction In Hudson v. Palmer, a divided Supreme Court decided for the first time that the fourth amendments protection is unavail- able to prisoners in their prison cells.2 The Court held that soci- ety is not prepared to recognize that a prisoner has any legiti- mate expectation of privacy in his prison cell and, accordingly, the constitutional proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures is inapplicable in that context. In so holding, the Court gave great weight to the paramount interest in prison se- curity, maintaining that recognition of privacy rights for prison- ers simply cannot be reconciled with the concept of incarcera- tion, and the needs and objectives of penal institutions.4 Part II of this Note reviews the development of four