LOS ANGELES, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A federal court in California ruled Friday that authorities may not conduct strip-searches without reasonable suspicion the subjects are carrying contraband.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit challenging the practice of San Francisco city and county authorities of strip-searching inmates as a means of deterring drugs and weapons traffic in jails, the Los Angeles Times reported. The panel found the practice is a violation of constitutional prohibition on unreasonable search and seizure.


The ruling also cleared the way for lawsuits against San Francisco County Sheriff Michael Hennessey, the newspaper said.

"The intrusiveness of a body-cavity search cannot be overstated," Judge Sidney R. Thomas wrote. "To justify such a dehumanizing and humiliating invasion of privacy, there must be some reasonable relationship between the criteria used to identify the specific individuals eligible for a strip-search and the interest in preventing the introduction of contraband."

The decision upheld a 2005 lower court ruling that found the plaintiffs in the case were considered a separate class of arrestees from suspects whose criminal records constituted probable cause they might be carrying contraband.