(10-01) 15:35 PDT San Francisco (AP) --

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A federal judge has ruled that the city's former policy allowing new prisoners to be strip-searched, regardless of the charges against them, was unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled that the policy, which was changed in January 2004, violated constitutional rules that only allow strip searches for newly booked inmates arrested for crimes involving drugs or violence, or if guards have evidence an inmate is concealing weapons or contraband.

Each year, about 50,000 inmates are booked and temporarily housed in the city jail before being transferred to other jails or released, according to city statistics cited by Breyer, who issued the ruling on Sept. 22.

Lawyers had different views about how many inmates were illegally strip-searched and how much the city would have to pay to compensate them.

Jeff Schwarzschild, a lawyer for inmates who challenged the policy, said Friday that the ruling applies to as many as 27,000 people strip-searched at the city's reception jail between April 2002 and January 2004. He said settlements in other strip-search cases, including a $15 million settlement in Sacramento last year, have amounted to about $1,000 per inmate.

But Deputy City Attorney David Newdorf said the judge had narrowed the suit to between 7,000 and 9,000 inmates and allowed jail officials to try to show that particular strip searches were justified.

Similar lawsuits have been filed in other Northern California counties where jail officials are accused of routinely strip-searching inmates in violation of their constitutional rights.

Information from: San Francisco Chronicle,