"This settlement is a complete victory. We have stopped a degrading and unnecessary practice that was going on for many years before we filed suit," Webbert said.
The relatively large settlement also "sends an important message that the government must respect the civil rights of all citizens, even those who are in jail," said Howard Friedman, a Boston lawyer who also represents the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit was filed in 2002 by Michele Nilson of North Andover, Mass., who was arrested in Ogunquit for driving with a suspended driver's license in 1999 and forced to take off her clothes in front of a corrections officer when taken to the jail in Alfred.
The lawsuit contended that the York County Sheriff's Department violated the law by requiring all persons brought to the jail to strip and shower in front of an officer, no matter what charge was brought against them.
Lawyers have estimated that as many as 7,500 people were illegally stripped at the jail and could be eligible to receive part of the settlement. The actual amount lawsuit members receive depends on how many people submit claim forms.
The agreement stipulates that female members of the suit will get double the payout as men because previous jury verdicts have generally given higher awards to women because of the perception that strip searches are more intrusive and humiliating for them than for men.
Nilson's lawyers are seeking 30 percent of the settlement fund, or $990,000.
Gene Libby, a Portland lawyer who was one of the lawyers representing York County, said the county has agreed to maintain a new strip search policy and to pay money, but it does not admit to wrongdoing.
The strip search policy, which went into effect on April 30, calls for inmates to undress down to their underwear in front of jail officers, but then stand behind a privacy screen to finish disrobing and to put on a jail uniform.
People arrested for violent felonies, drug offenses, and weapons charges are still subject to full strip searches, Libby said.
People are eligible to be part of the settlement if they were arrested for crimes that did not involve drugs, weapons, or violent felonies between Oct. 14, 1996, and April 30, 2004, and were forced to put on a jail uniform before their first court appearance.
