Philadelphia to Pay $5.9 Million to Settle Strip-Search Claims
A federal judge approved a $5.9 million settlement in a suit challenging Philadelphia's policy of strip-searching every person admitted into its prison system. As part of the settlement, the city will replace strip searches with non-invasive metal detectors and ion scanners -- a high-tech solution that allowed the lawyers to avoid litigating a constitutional question that has been a vexing one for courts. Eight of the 12 federal circuits have held that a policy to strip search all pretrial detainees is unconstitutional.
