The inmates, some of whom were menstruating, were told to remove their clothes and lift and spread their body parts, in full view of one another. Deputies yelled degrading comments and profanities as they made their orders. Some laughed. A judge found the invasiveness of the strip searches — that the women had to expose their genitals in large groups, without any privacy — violated their 4th Amendment rights. The settlement comes amid a shift in philosophy about mass incarceration and at a time when women for the first time ever hold four of the five seats on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
LA County to pay $53M over strip searches of female inmates
LA County to pay $53M over strip searches of female inmates - kartaplovdiv.com
When he was a lieutenant at the women's jail in South L. County history. Villanueva — now L. That was during a nearly six-year period when female deputies forced as many as 60 inmates at a time to disrobe and submit to body cavity searches and verbal abuse on the filthy floor of a giant open garage. In a memo to plaintiff's attorneys, the county said Villanueva knew about "strip search policies, procedures and practices" as well as the "training and supervision" of jail deputies "regarding strip searches and the manner in which they were conducted.
Women in jail endured group strip searches. L.A. County to pay $53 million to settle suit
The class-action lawsuit was filed in on behalf of former inmates who said they were placed in groups of up to 50 and ordered to expose their genitals while deputies shouted degrading comments. The searches during intake inspections at the Sheriff's Department's Century Regional Detention Facility caused the women trauma and humiliation, the lawsuit said. Many of the examinations occurred at night in a bus garage that was without heaters until , the suit said. I hope no human being has to live through it again," said Mary Amador, a former inmate who's part of the class action. The county doesn't acknowledge wrongdoing and says the settlement was reached to avoid further legal costs.
The class-action lawsuit was filed in on behalf of former inmates who said they were placed in groups of up to 50 and ordered to expose their genitals while deputies shouted degrading comments. The searches during intake inspections at the Sheriff's Department's Century Regional Detention Facility caused the women trauma and humiliation, the lawsuit said. Many of the examinations occurred at night in a bus garage that was without heaters until , the suit said. I hope no human being has to live through it again," said Mary Amador, a former inmate who's part of the class action.