In Re French

Five prisoners at San Quentin State Prison brought these lawsuits after spouses or friends were indefinitely excluded from the prison following refusals by the visitors, all women, to submit to fully unclothed body searches. The searches were requested because prison authorities suspected the women of attempting to bring contraband into the prison, We hold, in accord with the ruling below, that the initial response of the prison, to prohibit the women from visiting the prison indefinitely, was not “necessary for the reasonable security of the institution” and violated Penal Code section 2601, subdivision (d). We also hold that the manner in which the prison is complying with the trial court’s injunction, allowing the women into the prison after strip searching them, but only for noncontact visits, violates statewide administrative regulations pertaining to contact visits.

In August and September 1978, respectively, Carol French and Brenda Owen arrived at San Quentin Prison to visit their husbands, who were inmates there. At the main gate each woman was asked by a male officer to submit to an “unclothed body search.” Each woman refused.

According to the pleadings, the…