## Facts

- Tyrone Calhoun, an Illinois state prisoner at Stateville Correctional Center, brought a pro se 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against the warden and other prison officials.
- Calhoun alleged guards escorted him from segregation to an open day-room telephone area and ordered him to submit to a strip search.
- He alleged he asked to be searched in a private area, but guards required him to strip in front of several female officers who allegedly had no role in the search.
- Calhoun alleged officers laughed, made sexual comments, compelled “provocative” movements during the inspection, and pointed batons toward his anal area while he bent over for visual inspection.
- He alleged the warden and an assistant warden observed the search and did nothing to stop it.
- Calhoun characterized the incident as sexual harassment, alleged psychological trauma, and sought compensatory and punitive damages plus declaratory and injunctive relief.

## Issues

1. Whether allegations of a gratuitously humiliating strip search, conducted publicly in front of female staff without an apparent security justification and accompanied by sexual taunts and coercive conduct, state an Eighth Amendment claim.
2. Whether 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e) bars the action at screening because the alleged injury was mental or emotional without physical injury, including where declaratory or injunctive relief is sought.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit vacated the district court’s sua sponte dismissal and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held the complaint plausibly alleged an Eighth Amendment violation because a factfinder could view the search as maliciously motivated and intended to humiliate rather than to serve a legitimate penological purpose.
- The court held § 1997e(e) did not justify dismissal at the pleading stage; the provision limits certain damages for mental or emotional injury absent physical injury but does not bar claims for declaratory or injunctive relief.

## Legal Principles

- Strip searches are not per se unconstitutional; the manner, purpose, and surrounding circumstances determine whether the conduct is cruel and unusual.
- A strip search may violate the Eighth Amendment when it is gratuitously humiliating, maliciously motivated, unrelated to institutional security, or otherwise lacking penological justification.
- Sexual harassment or abuse by correctional staff can support an Eighth Amendment claim, even when the primary alleged harm is psychological.
- PLRA § 1997e(e) operates as a limitation on recovery for mental or emotional injury without physical injury, not as a categorical bar to bringing a constitutional claim.
- Because § 1997e(e) does not bar declaratory or injunctive relief, and may not foreclose other forms of relief where a constitutional violation is shown, dismissal at initial screening solely on that basis is improper.

## Conclusion

The Seventh Circuit held that allegations of a public, sexually humiliating strip search without a legitimate security justification stated an Eighth Amendment claim and that PLRA § 1997e(e) could not support complete dismissal at screening because it limits certain damages but does not bar claims seeking declaratory or injunctive relief.


Calhoun v. DeTella, 319 F.3d 936 (7th Cir. 2003)