{"id":3001,"date":"2009-07-17T07:23:05","date_gmt":"2009-03-13T04:46:37","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-14T05:00:33","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=3001","title":{"rendered":"CA5: Prison escapee has no REP in a motel room he is hiding in"},"content":{"rendered":"

A prison escapee hiding in a motel room has no constitutionally recognizable reasonable expectation of privacy. His status as a prisoner with virtually no Fourth Amendment rights continues into his escape status. United States v. Ward<\/a>, 561 F.3d 414 (5th Cir. 2009):<\/p>\n

That Ward would have had no right to privacy in his prison cell does not a fortiori mean that he has no right to privacy in his motel room. The interests at play for determining whether the Fourth Amendment applies to an escapee in society may differ from those applicable in the prison cell context. In other words, although the privacy right is personal, defining the specific content and incidents of the right often requires reference to a place–hence the Hudson opinion’s repetition of the clause “in his prison cell.” The Court’s holding, specific to the cell, does not by its own force reach a motel room.<\/p>\n

Exchanging the prison environment for a motel room and the prisoner for a prison escapee, we find that the balance of interests weighs against finding a constitutionally protected reasonable expectation of privacy. We acknowledge that the consideration of internal security recognized in Hudson<\/a> loses much its force when applied to justify circumscribing an escapee’s privacy right. This justification is place specific. As explained in Hudson, “[a] right of privacy in traditional Fourth Amendment terms is fundamentally incompatible with the close and continual surveillance of inmates and their cells required to ensure institutional and internal order.” It is the challenge of the unique prison environment–exemplified by the prison administrator’s constant fight to keep dangerous contraband out of the hands of a population that has demonstrated a proclivity for violence–that partially justifies that the privacy right in the cell be among the rights ceded by a convicted felon.<\/p>\n

However, while institutional security loses some of its justifying force once a prisoner breaches the prison wall, we believe it remains indirectly at play. Recognizing a privacy right in the motel room of an escapee who legally belongs in a cell would “offer judicial encouragement to the act of escape.” Rewarding successful escapees by restoring previously ceded rights would embolden the escape plots that prison administrators already must work vigilantly to deter. Indirectly, then, society’s interest in the security of its penal institutions remains relevant to determining whether an escapee has a reasonable expectation of privacy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Officers knocked at defendant’s door, with probable cause, and they heard running inside. That was an exigency that justified the officers’ entry. United States v. Reed<\/a>, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5175 (11th Cir. March 6, 2009) (unpublished).*<\/p>\n

District court’s crediting the testimony it did was supported by the evidence, and it could not be argued on appeal that the district court credited the wrong testimony. United States v. Maddox<\/a>, 316 Fed. Appx. 908 (11th Cir. 2009) (unpublished).*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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