City to Pay $33 Million to Inmates Who Were Illegally Strip Searched
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
The city announced Monday that it had agreed to settle a lawsuit stemming from the illegal strip search of thousands of nonviolent inmates who were taken to Rikers Island on misdemeanor charges.
The lead lawyer representing the inmates said the city agreed to pay $33 million in damages to cover the roughly 100,000 instances in which inmates were illegally strip searched.
The announcement marks the third time in a decade that the city has agreed to pay inmates for illegal strip searches. In 2007, the city’s Department of Correction conceded in federal court that the strip searches of the inmates violated a 2002 court settlement.
The settlement provides that inmates receive between $1,800 and $2,900, depending on how many times they were strip searched.
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