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Bell v. Wolfish  

Definition

  • Although many Supreme Court cases deal with the rights of prisoners, Bell v. Wolfish , 441 U.S. 520 (1979), was distinctive because it dealt primarily with the rights of pretrial detainees. Prisoners in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York brought challenges to several policies, including the facility’s practice of “double-bunking” inmates; rules prohibiting inmates from receiving hardcover books unless they were mailed directly from publishers, book clubs, or bookstores; restrictions on other incoming packages; searches of inmates’ rooms; and strip searches of inmates after they received visitors. [Source: Encyclopedia of the First Amendment; Bell v. Wolfish (1979)]

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Date

  • 1979

URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/Bell_v._Wolfish

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