Braun, et al. v. Maynard, et al., No. 10-1401 (4th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseEmployees of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services filed suit against defendants, alleging principally that the searches conducted on them as a result of a portable ion scanning machine, which was capable of detecting minute amounts of controlled substances, violated their Fourth Amendment rights. The district court held that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity and dismissed the suit. The court affirmed and held that, although it was clearly established that intrusive prison employee searches required reasonable suspicion, it was far from clear that the devices at issue could not meet that standard. The court further held that because no clearly established federal law placed the officers on notice that fighting contraband in the prison environment in this manner was unlawful, the district court correctly held that immunity attached.
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