Chief Deputy Rob Streck said one factor makes the machine almost indispensable: its ability to detect objects in body cavities without conducting an invasive search.
“The big thing is people smuggling opiates or other types of drugs inside them and it gets into our jail,” Streck said.
While the frequency of drug overdoses eased in recent months, during 2016 and the first half of 2017, the jail staff dealt with several inmate overdoses a month, he said.
One inmate, Dustin Rybak, died in November 2016 of a fentanyl overdose, the Montgomery County coroner determined. Another inmate was accused of supplying the deadly opioid from inside the walls.
Montgomery County approved the purchase of the $118,750 machine from OD Security North America last July. Scans from the machine can also pick up needles, weapons and cell phones.
More than 25,000 Montgomery County Jail inmates a year will pass through a new full-body scanner able to detect a firearm or cell phone taped to a body, a needle in a pocket or a small baggie of drugs inside a body, said Streck.
Some in custody will be scanned multiple times as they return from court dates and work details.
“We’re a busy jail … It’s going to be a busy machine,” he said.
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