Demery

378 F.3d 1020 Jamie DEMERY; Samantha Moore; Aracelia Leticia Pfeifer; Janet Lee King; Jerri Cabaniss; Rosa Velazquez; Cynthia Matthers; Rhonda Farmer; Sandra Puebla; Jordan Martin; Laura Hartney; Elena M. Irvine; Yvette Rose Leon; Tina Marie Sox; Loretta Christie; Alison Lee Adair; Victoria Zepeda; Nikisha Calliste; Terry McEvoy; Tom Odenkirk; Dean Tousignant; Benny David Berryman; Damon Scoggin; Sean Botkin, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Joe ARPAIO, Maricopa County Sheriff, in his official capacity, Defendant-Appellant, and County of Maricopa; John/Jane Does 1-100, Defendants. No. 03-15698. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted December 3, 2003. Filed August 6, 2004. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Daniel P. Struck, Phoenix, AZ, for the defendant-appellant. Scott A. Ambrose, Phoenix, AZ, Ulises A. Ferragut, Jr., Ferragut & Associates, Phoenix, AZ, for the plaintiffs-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona; Earl H. Carroll, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-01-00983-EHC. Before PAEZ, BERZON, and BEA, Circuit Judges. PAEZ, Circuit Judge. 1 The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits…

The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits punishment of pretrial detainees. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535 , 99 S.Ct. 1861 , 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). Applying this principle, the district court preliminarily enjoined the use of world-wide web cameras (“webcams”) in the Maricopa County Madison Street Jail. We must decide whether the district court abused its discretion • in granting the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

*1024 I.

When Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Ar-paio announced the installation of webcams in the Madison Street Jail, he proclaimed “[w]e get people booked in for murder all the way down to prostitution.... When those johns are arrested, they can wave to their wives on the camera.” Sheriff Ar-paio also explained that his policy deterred crime and opened up the jails to public scrutiny: “The public has the right to know what’s going on in our jails.... And I believe that they act as a tool to deter crime. We hope that the only visit people make to our jail is a virtual visit.” In July 2000, four webcams began streaming live images of pretrial detainees to internet users around the world.

Sheriff…

dissenting.

Perhaps in an effort to express their repugnance for the Madison Street Jail webcast policy, the majority opinion substitutes conjecture for analysis of the mootness issue. On the issue whether the webcasts constitute constitutionally impermissible pre-conviction punishment, the majority opinion substitutes the personal tastes of the Court of Appeals judges for the analysis the Supreme Court directs us to use as to what constitutes such punishment. Last, the majority opinion simply refuses to consider any rational relation between the webcasts and the legally permissible governmental purposes stated by the Sheriff. The result is the imposition of the majority’s will in the place of the judgment of the lawfully elected representative of Maricopa County voters. Because of these inadequacies, I respectfully dissent.

I.

Mootness

Notwithstanding the parties’ failure to brief the issue, the majority opinion correctly acknowledges our responsibility to address the mootness question: whether this action presents a live case or controversy. Then, somewhat perfunctorily, they conclude that this case falls within the “capable-of-repetition-yet-evading-review” exception to…