Tracy Ray Vaughan v. James D. Ricketts

Ricketts, the director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, and other prison officials (Ricketts) appeal the district court’s denial of their summary judgment motion. Ricketts contends that he is entitled to qualified immunity from suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by Vaughan and other plaintiffs (Vaughan), all inmates at the Arizona State Prison at Florence (ASP), alleging that a series of digital rectal cavity searches violated their constitutional rights. Ricketts also suggests that the individual liability of particular defendants is before the court on this appeal. We find that the district court did not err in denying Ricketts’ claim of qualified immunity. The denial of summary judgment is AFFIRMED.

FACTS

Vaughan and approximately eighty inmates of the maximum security unit at ASP were subjected to a series of digital rectal cavity searches on the 15th, 22nd, and 23rd of March 1984. Vaughan alleges that correctional medical assistants untrained in involuntary rectal cavity searches conducted them on a table in an open hallway, within view of prison personnel and some inmates. He alleges that the conditions were unsanitary, that some inmates who resisted were forced to…