Florida the rules are different here Chapter IX

Its been a long time since I did one of these. Here is a story that is just more proof of the truth stated in this blog's description. You have to be a glutton for punishment to live here.

Florida law prohibits jailers from strip-searching people arrested for non-violent or non-drug-related charges unless its believed they have a weapon or drugs on them. In such cases a supervisor needs to sign off on the search guess.

Guess what? Broward County jail officials have been violating the law for years. Now a class-action lawsuit is going forward, one that if goes against the County will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Miami-Dade county had to pay out 4.5 million just recently.

Broward County Sheriff Jenne doesn't want to take responsibility. Typical for a politician, I just hope voters find him responsible for what was done. I kind of sympathize with the defendants, this shouldn't have been done. On the other hand the only ones to get mentionable monetary rewards in Class Action suits is the lawyers. These women were forced to bend over, now its Broward County taxpayers turn. Don't you just love it?

Open Post- Don Surber, Bright & Early, Stuck on Stupid, Stop the ACLU,

A judge this week allowed a class action lawsuit to go forward alleging that the Broward Sheriff's Office has for years been conducting illegal strip-searches of people arrested for relatively minor crimes.

Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld certified the class action Monday. The lawsuit charges that the Sheriff's Office "instituted a policy to strip-search all pre-trial detainees, including those arrested for traffic offenses and misdemeanors."

The lawsuit, filed by Fort Lauderdale attorney Kevin Kulik in 1999, asserts that those searches were unconstitutional.

Also, it says, they violated Florida law that bars jailers from strip-searching those arrested for non-violent or non-drug-related charges unless there is cause to think they possess contraband, such as a weapon or drugs.

In the case of all strip searches, Sheriff's jail deputies are supposed to obtain written permission from their supervisor.

Kulik said the guards who were deposed for the lawsuit said they routinely strip-searched everyone coming into their jails regardless of the charges. He said most of the jailers weren't even aware there was a form or that a supervisor's permission was required.

The Sheriff's Office does not comment on pending cases, said Liz Calzadilla-Fiallo, a department spokeswoman.

Similar unlawful strip-search lawsuits in other cities have been settled for as much as $30 million in recent years.

Kulik said he envisions the class action lawsuit growing to include 20,000 or more who he thinks have been illegally searched by Sheriff's Office jailers. And that figure, Kulik said, might even be low considering that Sheriff's Office records show they've arrested more than 600,000 people during the six years the lawsuit will cover. That number includes those arrested for crimes justifying a search.

According to the lawsuit, Sheriff Ken Jenne gave the judge a figure of 1,764 individuals who were possibly illegally searched between Dec. 13, 1999, and Dec. 13, 2002, when pressed for an estimate during one court hearing. Kulik said Jenne has not divulged how the department arrived at that figure.

Two women already have been identified in the class action lawsuit, Daisy Cole and Martha Echeverry. Both were strip-searched, though the State Attorney's Office ultimately declined to file charges in either case, Kulik said. Cole had been arrested on a charge of obstructing a police officer and Echeverry was arrested after a domestic disturbance, Kulik said.

The lawsuit's federal civil rights claim is being heard in state court. It's a rare but legal move, done mostly because of the proximity of the state court to Kulik's office, he said.

Other cases charging illegal strip-searches have been settled for big money in several cities in x recent years. In March 2000, Boston officials settled for $10 million after city jails were accused of having a "blanket policy" that all women inmates were to be searched. In August 2001, attorneys for Los Angeles agreed to pay out as much as $27 million for a lawsuit charging jailers with keeping inmates past their release dates and conducting illegal strip searches. Last May, officials in New York City agreed to set aside up to $30 million after conceding that as many as 40,000 men and women were illegally strip-searched between 1999 and 2002.

Last April, less than a month before the New York settlement, Miami-Dade County agreed to pay out $4.5 million for cavity searches that Miami-Dade Corrections Department officials had been routinely conducting in violation of the state law for years.

At that time, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Sheriff's Office officials would conduct strip-searches of non-violent offenders only if they had reason to think the offenders were hiding a weapon or contraband.