IA: No REP when in custody on a civil commitment order

Defendant was picked up on an involuntary commitment order for drug addiction, and she was brought to a hospital and locked in a room. She was directed to dress out into a hospital gown to go to the psychiatric floor, and she was directed to empty her pockets. Marijuana was found. The state court had previously held that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in an ER, and the authority it found showed no reasonable expectation of privacy in a civil commitment either. State v. Secory-Monson, 2015 Iowa App. LEXIS 768 (August 19, 2015):

In further evaluating whether Secory-Monson had an expectation of privacy, we ask whether Secory-Monson’s expectation of privacy was one society considers reasonable. Breuer, 577 N.W.2d at 46. The Supreme Court and the Eighth Circuit have both determined involuntarily civilly committed persons have rights analogous to pretrial detainees. See Youngberg v. Romeo, 457 U.S. 307, 319-20 (1982); Andrews v. Neer, 253 F.3d 1052, 1061 (8th Cir. 2001) (“[C]onfinement in a state institution raise[s] concerns similar to those raised by the housing of pretrial detainees, such as the legitimate institutional interest in the safety and security of guards and other individuals in the facility, order within the facility, and the efficiency of the facility’s operations.”).

The Utah Court of Appeals has concluded a search incident to protective custody for involuntarily committed persons is permitted under the United States Constitution. State v. Collins, 53 P.3d 953, 956 (Utah Ct. App. 2002). The court considered the purpose of the search: to protect peace officers, the mentally ill individual, and others. The South Dakota Supreme Court came to the same conclusion: because of the State’s legitimate custodial purposes, protective custody curtails a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy. Cordell v. Weber, 673 N.W.2d 49, 53-56 (S.D. 2003). “A contrary conclusion would frustrate the legislative intent of preserving the safety of the public and the individual taken into protective custody.” Id. at 54.