Exam 14: Legal Issues and Liability

If an inmate's mail is rejected, the inmate must be notified, and the author of the letter must be allowed to protest.

Under the "restrained-hands" phase of judicial intervention, the courts have been attempting to balance _________ with ___________. Select the option that makes this statement true when placed in the blanks:

The courts have ruled that it is a violation of constitutional rights to strip-search an inmate returning from work release unless all other inmates in the institution are strip-searched at the same time.

The state (i.e., government) is responsible for bringing charges. This describes:

Under most circumstances, frisking inmates and conducting cell searches do not fall within the Fourth Amendment's search and seizure provisions.

Staff working in correctional facilities have no more Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure than inmates.

The Prison Litigation Reform Act has attempted to:

Indicate which of the following is being described in the statements below: -Legal action is initiated by the individual victim.

When inmates file a suit alleging constitutional violations as a result of conditions of confinement and correctional officials agree to take action to remedy the situation rather than contest the allegations, this action is called:

Correctional personnel cannot be held criminally liable for their actions if they can prove that they acted in self-defense.

Once visitors enter correctional facilities, they are entitled to no more Fourth Amendment search and seizure rights than the inmates confined there.

Court decisions have been virtually unanimous in upholding the right of correctional officials to require that inmates maintain a short haircut and clean-shaven face.

An inmate seeks $2 million in damages for being forced to sleep on the floor without a mattress for two days when the facility was drastically overcrowded. The court rules in favor of the inmate, and issues a "cease and desist" order to the agency to prevent it from allowing this practice in the future. However, the court holds the agency liable for only $20, ($10 for each day that the inmate had to sleep on the floor) This describes:

Given only the facts stated, determine whether the situations described below reflect circumstances involving vicarious liability (A or B). If not vicarious, indicate whether there is any potential for liability at all (C or D). In other words, every item marked "B" will also have a second answer. -An officer's supervisor tells her to make sure that she conducts checks at least every 10 minutes of the inmates in safety cells. She gets tied up with something else and misses one of the scheduled checks, during which time an inmate hangs himself.

If a correctional officer is brought to court on criminal charges of assaulting an inmate and is acquitted, the inmate can still file a claim in civil court.

Drug tests can be required of:

The censorship of all incoming inmate mail has been upheld by the courts on the basis of the need to maintain institutional security.

The courts have upheld the right of correctional officials to prohibit inmates from wearing any religious medals, regardless of whether it can be proven that they present a danger to the institution.

Action is taken for the purpose of obtaining monetary compensation. This describes:

The courts have been somewhat reluctant to order corrections to comply with religious requirements that pose logistical and economic problems in their implementation.