CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland man will receive $72,500 as part of a settlement he reached with the state over what he said was an unconstitutional strip search while he was in prison in southeastern Ohio.

Jose Irizarry claimed that guards at the Belmont Correctional Institution in St. Clairsville acted on a bad tip about drugs and strip-searched him at his bunk in December 2015, in full view of other inmates housed with him. The guards did not find any drugs, he says.

Irizarry, 37, said one of the guards, Lt. Brandon Ring, used a racial slur before the search and said he wanted to "make an example" out of the inmate.

Irizarry, who is now out of prison, sued Ring and four other guards in federal court in Columbus in August. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction agreed to settle the case following negotiations.

The settlement was finalized this week, and Irizarry's attorney, Jacqueline Greene, confirmed the settlement amount.

"I was harassed and humiliated by these officers, who knew they were exposing me to danger when they chose to search me at my bunk," Irizarry said in a news release sent by his attorneys. "I did not deserve to be treated like this. No one deserves to be treated like this."

ODRC spokesman Grant Doepel declined to comment.

Irizarry, who was serving a seven-year prison sentence on a drug trafficking conviction, claims prison guard Capt. Michael Rizzo ordered Ring to conduct the strip search at Irizarry's bunk, though doing it in plain sight of other inmates violated ODRC policies. Conducting strip searches in casual view of other inmates constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, according to Irizarry's attorneys.

Ring and other guards then approached Irizarry at his bunk and ordered him to strip for a search. Following his search, the guards took him away, and inmates jeered and made sexually threatening comments as he walked, Irizarry's lawsuit says.

The inmate was then forced to submit to a urine test in front of a female correctional officer. His test came back clean, according to his lawsuit.

Irizarry reported the incident to prison inspectors, who feared that he may be retaliated against by the guards. He was moved to a prison in Grafton a few days later. Rizzo was later disciplined for ordering the strip search near Irizarry's bunk, according to Irizarry's attorneys.

Irizarry experienced depression and anxiety as a result of the search, according to his lawsuit.

"Prisoners are people -- and like everyone else, they have fundamental rights. And yet supervising officers actively ordered and participated in blatant misconduct in violation of Mr. Irizarry's rights," Greene said in a news release. "The racism and sexual harassment Mr. Irizarry endured during this search were unacceptable."

A spokeswoman for the union representing Ohio prison guards did not immediately return a phone call.

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