By WHITNEE ICE
St. Joseph Post
There is a new full-body scanner at the Buchanan County Jail.
Sheriff Bill Puett says the jail was able to get the body scanner with some of the Cares Act funding.
"The close proximity of being in contact with people and the pandemic and all those things, we were able to get what's called a body scanner," Puett tells St. Joseph Post.
The $165,000 scanner takes images that detect contraband on or in an inmate’s body.
Puett says this could protect inmates as well as staff.
"It's a safety measure for staff. It's a safety measure for the inmate who might be carrying the contraband as well as the inmate population. If somebody's bringing in a quantity of some type of narcotic and then they would get into the population and they would take it, they could overdose and die. They could distribute it to other inmates which could overdose and die, says Puett. "They could expose staff, obviously with a weapon, I mean that's a serious thing."
The scanner has been in use for a couple of weeks.