|
STRIP SEARCHES
The GEO Group, Inc. Strip Search Class Action
Read the Associated Press Article -- Click Here
Read about it in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Click Here
Chimicles & Tikellis LLP filed a class action complaint in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against The GEO Group, Inc., f/k/a Wackenhut Corrections Corp. ("GEO" or "Defendant"). GEO, a multinational corporation whose common stock is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: GEO), contracts with government entities across the country to manage and operate their jails and other detention facilities (the "Jails"). According to the complaint, GEO is required to indemnify the governmental entities with which it contracts for all claims arising out of GEO's management of the Jails. In 2006, GEO had over 10,000 full time employees and recorded revenues in excess of $860 million.
According to the complaint filed by Chimicles & Tikellis, Defendant GEO, while serving as a government actor, has employed a uniform practice or policy of strip-searching all pre-trial detainees who enter the Jails, regardless of the crime or violation for which they are detained, and without making the legally required determination of whether reasonable suspicion exists to justify a strip search. The complaint seeks class action status on behalf of the plaintiff and all others who were unconstitutionally strip searched at one of the Jails run by GEO after being detained for misdemeanors, summary offenses, violations of probation or parole, traffic infractions, civil commitments, and/or similar charges.
The named plaintiff in the compliant filed by C&T was arrested by the Media, Pennsylvania police department in July of 2007, and was charged with DUI, public drunkenness, and criminal trespassing. When he was unable to make his bail, he was remanded to the George W. Hill Correctional Facility (the "Hill Facility") in Thornton, Pennsylvania. According to the complaint, GEO is responsible for operating the Hill Facility, and is paid in excess of $3 million per month by the county to do so. The complaint alleges that upon his entry to the Hill Facility, the plaintiff was subject to a strip search, even though a previous pat-down and search of his belongings revealed no contraband, and notwithstanding the fact that reasonable suspicion to strip search him did not exist. While at the Hill Facility, other inmates shared their strip search horror stories with him, according to the complaint.
The complaint filed by C&T seeks to vindicate the alleged violations of the constitutional rights of the plaintiff and members of the putative class, and asserts a claim for monetary damages pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The complaint also requests equitable relief to ensure that Defendants' alleged unconstitutional practices and policies are terminated, and seeks relief for various alleged common law tort claims.
The complaint can be viewed by clicking here.
For further information or to join the case you may contact:
Joseph G. Sauder (JosephSauder@chimicles.com) at 610-645-4717, or
Benjamin F. Johns (BenJohns@chimicles.com)
Chimicles & Tikellis LLP
One Haverford Center
Haverford, PA 19041
1-866-399-2487
| 
