NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge has been hearing testimony from former prisoners who were improperly strip-searched at a Long Island jail.

U.S. District Judge Hon. Denis Hurley is gathering evidence in a class-action case filed by nearly 18,000 people who were forced to get undressed and squat after being arrested for minor offenses.

The court has already ruled that the practice violated the prisoners' constitutional rights.

Now the judge is trying to decide damages. Lawyers for the county have acknowledged that they could amount to tens of millions of dollars.

The jail halted the searches in 1999 after a judge said they were illegal.

The courts generally only allow such searches of people who are suspected of felonies or could be considered dangerous.