By Daniel Kelly
BND
ST. CLAIR COUNTY, Ill. — More than two dozen inmates at the St. Clair County Jail have filed a federal lawsuit alleging group strip searches violated their constitutional rights.
The 29 inmates allege they received multiple body cavity searches in front of other inmates and guards. The inmates believe the searches violated state law because they should have been conducted in private.
St. Clair County Sheriff Rick Watson could not immediately be reached for comment.
The inmates seek $10 million alleging the searches were “cruel and unusual punishment” under the U.S. Constitution. The inmates filed the suit Friday, Dec. 27 in East St. Louis.
“Strip searches are unconstitutional unless the guard or officer has a reasonable suspicion that the detainee has a concealed weapon or contraband of some sort, which no detainee turned out to have any contraband,” the inmates allege in the lawsuit.
Madison County Jail Superintendent Gary Bost said strip searches are conducted there one inmate at a time in the Madison County Jail. A jail guard of the same sex searches the inmate in a shower area separated from other inmates.
State law restricts strip searches to be performed by the same sex as the arrested person and “on premises where the search cannot be observed by persons not physically conducting the search.”
A separate federal lawsuit against the St. Clair County Jail that mirrors the allegations of the 29 inmates was dismissed on Thursday, Dec. 26.
Full story: Inmates say strip searches at St. Clair County Jail violated their rights