Three women activists, strip-searched after being arrested during the 2003 free-trade demonstrations, have forced Miami-Dade County to end its indiscriminate searches.In addition, the county last Monday agreed to pay $4.5 million to more than 100,000 people as part of its settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed by Judith Haney, Liat Mayer and Jamie Loughner. The tentative settlement was signed last Monday by U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan; final approval could come on Sept. 23.
"Body cavity searches are extremely violating for anyone but particularly for women," said Terry Coble, president of the Greater Miami Chapter of the ACLU. "This settlement reinforces that principle."
The women were arrested and searched during a Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting in downtown Miami in 2003.
The longstanding practice of such invasive searches was discovered only after police arrested 234 people at protests during the meeting.
"We didn't know this was going on for at least seven years," said Randall Berg, executive director of the Florida Justice Institute and a lawyer for the women. "That's how we found out about it, the FTAA."
Miami-Dade County denies all allegations of wrongdoing and agreed to the settlement because it's a favorable resolution, Assistant County Attorney Jeffrey Ehrlich said.
The county has changed its procedures and agreed to comply with state law, which bars jail officials from strip-searching people who have been arrested for minor offenses unless the person is arrested on a drug charge, is suspected of having contraband or is booked on a violent offense. The law requires supervisors to give written authorization for such a search.
"We have become aware of our strip-search practices and as a result of the lawsuit we have changed our policy," Miami-Dade Corrections Department spokeswoman Janelle Hall said. "We want to compensate those people who have been hurt."