April 04, 2001 02:09am
City To Pay for Jailing 3 Men Naked
Source: AP
(KALAMAZOO, MI) -- The City Commission has agreed to pay $31,500 to three men who were stripped of their clothing and jailed naked by police officers under a suicide prevention policy.
The city has a policy of removing the clothing of inmates who are considered potentially suicidal but a shortage of anti-suicide gowns were cited in the three cases.
The commission on Monday agreed to pay $19,500 to Beryl Wilson, $9,500 to Michael A. Moran and $2,500 to Ricardo Montalvo.
The payments were issued to settle federal lawsuits filed after Wilson complained he was jailed naked for eight hours in 1999 after a misdemeanor arrest.
``These guys settled because they wanted to get on with their lives and not drag it out through the trial process,'' said their attorney, James Hyman.
Officers stripped Moran after a 1998 arrest, jailing him overnight in what he called ``a humiliating and embarrassing tragedy.''
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