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New York may pay millions to people illegally strip searched

Danni Tyson talks about being strip searched by New York City corrections guards during a news conference on Wednesday as Vivian Williams, left, listens.

From CNN Producers Rose Arce and Shannon Troetel

NEW YORK (CNN) -- City officials are considering a proposal Wednesday to pay up to $50 million to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of tens of thousands of people illegally strip searched after being arrested for minor offenses.

Richard Emery, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he believes the city will agree to pay damages between $250 and $22,500 to as many as 60,000 people who were arrested and strip searched during 10 months in 1996 and 1997. The searches occurred 10 years after a federal court barred strip searches of people accused of minor offenses unless there is reasonable suspicion they are concealing weapons or contraband.

If the city ultimately agrees to pay, it would be one of the largest civil rights settlements against any city in U.S. history.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani said corrections officials were unaware that the 1986 federal ruling applied to them and stopped the practice when questions arose.

VIDEO Plaintiff Danni Tyson talks about her strip search at the hands of New York police officers Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN interviews one of the plaintiffs and the lead attorney in the New York strip search case Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Maria Hinojosa reports on why illegal strip searches were conducted in New York -- and how much they will now cost the city Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     LEGAL RESOURCES Latest Legal News Law Library FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

But the mayor defiantly insisted that the strip searches were appropriate anyway.

"If people aren't searched effectively and they're all being held for arraignment and one person pulls out a razor blade and starts killing people then you'll find out that there's another side to this," Giuliani told reporters Wednesday.

Bernard Kerik, the deputy of the Department of Corrections at the time, said abandoning strip-searches had endangered law enforcement personnel.

"The courts have determined it's inappropriate," acknowledged Kerik, who is now the city's police commissioner.

"Personally, I would tend to disagree and say anybody that you take off the streets of the city and you're going to put those people in a confined and secluded area with other people that have been arrested for crimes, they should be strip-searched for the safety of the people that's there."

At a news conference Wednesday, several plaintiffs called the searches humiliating and unnecessary.

Vivian Williams was arrested for selling sneakers on the street in 1997.

"I had two officers facing me and telling me to take off my clothes. I did what they asked ..." she said. "It was bad enough I was told to strip, but I was told to lift up my breast, to turn, to lift up legs, show my private parts. It was extremely demeaning. And it was just a horrific act."

Emery said the deal would likely include an unusual formula for compensating plaintiffs that would assess them points calculated on the basis of the emotional impact of the searches on each individual. Each person is entitled to a base of at least $250, with more money added if they were searched in front of other people, were searched during their menstrual cycle, were abused by guards in any way or were ultimately acquitted of the offense.

The city and plaintiffs' lawyers would have to mount an aggressive campaign to find all those potentially affected, conceivably anyone arrested between July 1996 to May of 1997 for any misdemeanor offense and searched by jail guards in Manhattan and Queens. Many of those affected were first-time offenders caught up in the city's crackdown on minor quality-of-life violations, like trying to ride the subway without paying or loitering.

Those arrested were ordered to disrobe, lift their breasts or genitals for visual inspection and to squat and cough.

"I was strip searched against a wall in front of everyone. All the inmates were watching me," said plaintiff Carlos Morales. "They took my shoes, my clothing. They threw it very far away. They threw it down the hallway. They told me to chase after it. Squatting like a dog."

If the city agrees, the proposed settlement would still have to be approved by U.S. District Judge John S. Martin Jr. The two sides have been in talks for two years, much of the debate focusing on how to compensate so many victims who would have to be contacted.

Emery said the settlement would set a precedent of compensating victims according to the circumstances of how they were affected.

"It recognizes the degrading and dehumanizing aspects of a strip search," he said.

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Discrimination alleged in Customs searches
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New York City Department of Correction
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