ALBANY, NY -  An Albany attorney has filed a multimillion dollar suit against Erie County, accusing local jailers of conducting illegal strip-searches on inmates.
The lawsuit has cost the county about $320,000 in legal fees already.

Bob Keach, who represents the inmates, says newly released e-mails from county officials prove that they failed to obey previous court rulings regarding the searches.

In one e-mail, a former assistant county attorney warns that the government is risking costly lawsuits because inmates' constitutional rights were being violated by the searches.

Last this week U-S Magistrate Judge Hugh Scott ordered the controversial e-mails to be released. Keach says that the courts have determined that there must be an indication that a detainee is hiding something illegal before he or she may be searched.

Erie County Sheriff Timothy Howard oversees the two county jails. He says strip-searches conducted by his staff comply with the law.