LA County to pay $53M over strip searches of female inmates

Los Angeles County will pay $53 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged tens of thousands of women were given invasive group strip searches at a jail.

The class-action suit was filed in 2010 on behalf of former inmates who said they were strip-searched in groups of up to 60 and were ordered to expose their genitals while deputies shouted degrading comments.

The county doesn't acknowledge wrongdoing and says the settlement was reached to avoid further legal costs.

The agreement applies to more than 93,000 women jailed between March 2008 and January 2015 at the Sheriff's Department's Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood.

Since the suit was filed, the jail has implemented body scanners and added privacy curtains when conducting cavity searches.