A federal appeals panel has upheld the practice of conducting group strip searches of inmates at Multnomah County Inverness Jail.

Joseph Cunningham, one of thousands of inmates who had to undergo the searches after every kitchen shift at the Northeast Portland jail, had appealed a federal district judge's decision to throw out his lawsuit. The district court found valid reasons for the jail to search inmates to ensure prisoners aren't smuggling contraband from the kitchen. Cunningham argued the searches violated his constitutional rights.

The appeals court considered the scope of the intrusion from the strip searches, the manner in which they were done, their justification and where they occurred.

The panel found the county's strip search policy wasn't unreasonable -- it was restricted to a group of inmates who worked in the kitchen and limited to a visual inspection. The appeals court found the searches were also "not unreasonably broad'' and done by same-gender deputies with no intrusive physical contact.

Cunningham, in custody at Inverness from September to October 2011, complained that the searches were humiliating because they were done in the presence of other inmates with no privacy. The inmates were required to expose and manipulate their genitals and bend and squat.

The county responded to Cunningham's complaint by requiring in November 2011 that dividers be placed in between each inmate during the group strip searches to afford some privacy. A curtain is drawn over the windows of the room where searches are done. They last less than a minute and involve no physical contact, according to the county. Group searches are still done, but with dividers between each inmate, and fewer inmates can be searched at once.

"Although the manner in which (the jail) conducted its pre-privacy panel searches was troublesome, the facility's unique administrative challenges justified its policy,'' the judges ruled.

The jail assigned two of its five escort deputies to oversee the group strip searches, which included five to 10 inmates at a time. Given the prison's safety concerns, the group search was "an expedited and reasonable strategy to deter improper conduct,'' the appeals panel wrote.

At Inverness Jail, which houses between 700 and 900 inmates, inmates serving sentences are required to work. Those in the kitchen have access to knives, can lids, wooden pallets, metal pieces of kitchen machinery, food and even plastic wrap that can create a security concern, the county argued.

The room used for the strip searches had one window that was completely covered by an attached curtain, affording the inmates privacy from the general prison population, the appeals court concluded.

The appeals panel rejected an argument by Cunningham's lawyer that the inmate strip searches must be done out of view of other prisoners.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian