Boise jail gets state-of-the-art body scanner to help curb contraband

In order to mitigate the amount of contraband that inmates try to sneak in to the Ada County Jail, the county has purchased a state-of-the-art body scanner.

The SOTER RS Full Body Security Scanning System will take X-ray images of inmates, and it is able to identify objects hidden in clothes or in parts of the body.

“If someone was trying to hide a syringe in a sock, or a small baggie of drugs in their underwear (or anywhere else), the scan is designed to pick up an anomaly,” according to a post on the Ada County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. “A strip search is not foolproof. Some of the more sophisticated inmates know how to effectively smuggle drugs into jail.”

The scanner cost $104,750 and was purchased with money from the general budget. Images it records can be saved and used in court, according to the Facebook post.

The body scanner provides a safe mechanism to ensure that neither staffers nor inmates are overexposed to radiation, the post said.