by David Smith

Created on: April 19, 2010   Last Updated: April 21, 2010

The term "shakedown" is a term used to describe a search.  However, a shakedown is nothing like a simple search.  I don't know of the department of corrections that doesn't allow for inmates to be searched whenever and wherever the officers at the prison decide to search them.  A simple search, perhaps on the yard, is when an officer searches the inmate with a clothed, pat search. 

Meaning that he will use his hands to search the inmate by touching his clothing.  Naturally, this should be done by an officer the same sex as the inmate, unless a real emergency exists that would necessitate otherwise.  This type of search, often referred to as being "pulled over" by the inmates, is not a shakedown.

A shakedown, at its most basic form, is an area search of the inmates and their housing areas.  Often referred to as "tossing cells" in the movies and what not, this is a shakedown.  During a shakedown, multiple searches happen in succession.  First, the inmates person is going to be searched. 

This can be done by either a pat search or a strip search.  The pat search was described above.  The strip search is conducted by the inmate removing his clothing and the officer searching it. 

Once the clothes are searched, the inmate will be checked visually in the arm pits, hair, mouth, ears, and groin area.  Once the search of the inmate is over, the inmates housing area will be searched.

The inmates housing area consists of his bunk, his locker, and the area immediately surrounding the bunk and locker.  If he is in a single cell housing unit, the entire cell in which he resides is his housing area.  In an open bay, or barracks style housing area, the bunk, locker and area surrounding the bunk and locker are his area. 

During the shakedown, the inmates belongings are searched.  This can take a short amount of time, or it can take all day.  If the inmate is a short timer that travels light (he doesn't have a lot of items in his locker), the search is generally rather quick.  However, if the inmate is traveling heavy (a full locker and then some), the search can take a while. 

We have an addition to the term in some prison administrations, however, and that is a mass shakedown.  During a mass shakedown, a larger number of officers will enter a prison to search a large number of inmates, and often the entire prison will be searched. 

Generally, the officers have help from some of our four legged officers during these searches.  Drug dogs are used often in most prison systems as a method of reducing drug use in the prison.

Inmates are not the only persons at a prison that are prone to a shakedown, however.  In some prison systems, the staff members are subjected to regular shakedowns of their persons and possessions, generally on a random basis, before they are allowed to enter the facility and go to work. 

This is not to say that officers are dirty and must be searched to maintain the security of the institution, but there is always the chance that someone will not follow proper protocol and start bringing in things that they are not supposed to bring in.

So, in closing, a shakedown is not your common search.  A shakedown is actually a combination of several types of searches, and can be done in such a manner as to include multiple inmates, all the way up to the entire prison being involved.

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