In the largest settlement in its history, the county of Sacramento has agreed to pay $15 million to more than 16,000 people who were illegally strip searched by the county Sheriff's Department at the jail, between 2000 and 2003. The county will have to pay $2 million, and its insurance company will pay the rest:

"This practice was ruled unconstitutional as early as 1984, yet there seemed to be no attempt to conform to the law," said attorney Mark Merin, who filed the suits. "People were stripped naked and dehumanized before arraignment. It was standard procedure."

The lawsuits also resulted in a change of policy:

Under the new policy, only prisoners being booked on charges involving violence, weapons or drugs may be subjected to visual body-cavity searches, and those searches must be conducted out of sight of other inmates and arrestees.

There's a graduated system of payment--here's who will get the most: