On October 24, Howard spoke on a panel at the Boston Bar Association on the constitutional right to perform strip searches after the recent Supreme Court decision in Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders. Howard discussed the rights of people who were strip searched. Currently, jails in Massachusetts do not strip search people who are held in custody before their first court appearance unless the officer has probable cause to believe that the detainee has contraband. The Florence decision, which passed 5-4, allows strip searches when people are placed in the general population unit of a jail, regardless of their reasons for being detained. The Massachusetts Constitution provides greater protection than the U.S. Constitution.
The other panelists were lawyers who defend civil rights cases from the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department and the Attorney General’s office.