Sheriff Arpaio's Pink-Underwear Policy May Violate Rights of Unconvicted Inmates, 9th Circuit Says
A nationally known Arizona sheriff’s requirement that inmates at his jail don pink underwear could be unconstitutional, as far as those not yet convicted of a crime are concerned, a federal appeals court says.
But the comment in a written opinion by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals doesn’t have the force of law, because the pink-underwear issue wasn’t raised on appeal, Reuters reports.
“Unexplained and undefended, the dress-out in pink appears to be punishment without legal justification,” said the majority of a three-judge panel in its written opinion concerning another Maricopa County matter.
And, while inmates’ pink underwear is not a topic on which the 9th Circuit can presently offer a decisive ruling, “it appears to us that this question is still open for exploration at trial on remand,” the majority notes.
