A federal appeals court in San Francisco has ruled that a strip search of a male inmate by a female guard was unconstitutional.

In a 6-5 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday said the search of the inmate Charles Byrd at a minimum-security jail in Maricopa County, Ariz., in 2004 was a "humiliating event" that violated his rights.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a three-judge appeals court panel ordered Byrd's civil rights lawsuit dismissed in 2009.

In its ruling Wednesday, the court determined that cross-gender searches of intimate areas violate the constitutional ban on unreasonable searches.