CHICAGO (WBBM) -- Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says he will appeal Thursday's federal court verdict in favor of inmates accusing jail guards of illegally strip-searching inmates.
"We have to do everything physically possible to make sure people aren't bringing weapons into the jail or bringing narcotics into the jail, so we do that," he said. "With that in mind, are there times when strip searching is a necessity? Absolutely. Anyone who would tell you otherwise is out of their mind."
Attorneys for the inmates said that damages could total into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Attorney Jon Loevy alleged that the illegal searches were conducted between February 2007 and March of this year, while Dart said the suit focused on the policies employed by predecessor Michael Sheahan's administration.
Dart said the jail has shifted largely to airport-style body scanning, but said the atmosphere inside the jail is such that sometimes strip searches are necessary.
The jury found that jail guards frequently used sexually degrading language and inappropriately touched the genitals of inmates during the searches. Loevy claimed that many were conducted in open hallways with vomit and feces on the floor.
Aides to Dart said strip searches are now limited to cases in which guards have reason to believe that an inmate is concealing a gun or drugs.
The attorneys for the inmates said other alternatives are available. Dart said alternatives such as video cameras don't work.
"When it comes to searching people coming in, in whatever fashion we do it, we have to be pretty good at it to make sure no one gets harmed here," he said.
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