Sheriff wants body scanner to combat jail smuggling
MUNCIE, Ind. – So far in 2017, officials at the Delaware County jail have dealt with an average of one inmate drug overdose per week.
At 18 overdoses and counting, Sheriff Ray Dudley is tired of inmates smuggling controlled substances, primarily heroin, into the jail.
Authorities are limited in their efforts to combat the problem, however.
A steady stream of prisoners appear to store their drugs in body cavities – primarily rectums and vaginas – as they are being processed into the jail.
Jail officers are allowed to conduct strip searches of inmates, but in Indiana, those body cavities in particular are off limits to those trying to prevent the smuggling of contraband.
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Dudley think he has a solution to his jail’s smuggling woes: a full-body digital scanner, already being used with success in jails in Hamilton and Hancock counties.
“Hamilton County’s had this X-ray machine, which their commissioners bought them, for three years now,” Dudley said, noting the amount of contraband being smuggled into that Noblesville detention facility has dropped dramatically.
The SecurPass machines aren’t inexpensive – a scanner would likely cost about $200,000 – but the sheriff said that cost would likely be less than a single lawsuit stemming from an inmate overdose.
In some instances, overdosing inmates were given heroin by other prisoners who successfully smuggled the drug behind bars. All of the OD victims in the jail so far this year have survived.
He also said eliminating the medical expenses stemming from jail ODs – as well as the staff time both those emergencies and routine body searches consume – would result in significant savings.
Jason Sloderbeck, commander of the Hamilton County jail, said Friday that installation of the body scanners – Hamilton Councy has a second scanner in a a non-jail facility, and is buying a third – had been a “great deterrent” to smuggling attempts.
As “frequent flyers” – those routinely booked into the jail – spread the word about the scanners, the number of prisoners trying to smuggle drugs into the facility fell.
With far fewer controlled substances circulating in the jail, a reduction in the facility’s medical expenses also resulted, Sloderbeck said.
While technically an “X-ray” machine, Sloderbeck said the scanners expose prisoners to the same level of radiation they would experience as passengers in an airplane.
Images are produced in less than 10 seconds. Those being scanned are not required to remove clothing, and the devices eliminate the need for strip searches.
A person would have to be scanned 1,000 times with Securpass, at its normal setting, to reach the level of radiation involved with a single chest X-ray, he said.
Dudley has talked about the proposed purchase to commissioners.
He would like to renovate the Delaware County jail, now a quarter-century old, in two other ways, requiring an investment of about $500,000, including the cost of the body scanner.
The computer server used in the jail’s video monitoring system dates back to the early 1990s, as does much of the camera equipment. Replacement devices don’t work well with the decades-old server, Dudley said.
“Part of the plan we’ve given them is not only (replacing) the server, with new cameras, for (the Delaware County Justice Center), but also for the county building as well,” the sheriff said.
Installation of a modern video system would enable security guards in the lobby of the Delaware County Building to monitor activity in the three-story building’s hallways, he said.
And Dudley hopes to replace hinges – again, dating back to the building’s construction – in the jail’s cell doors.
“Our hinges are failing,” the sheriff said. “The original hinges are inside-the-door hinges. (Inmates) can put stuff in the door so when the door closes, it separates that hinge.”
That can allow inmates to leave their cells and go into a cellblock during periods they are expected to be secured.
“The hinges that most of your jails go to now is an outside hinge system where they can’t be breached,” he said.
Dudley said the improvements would be “good business,” reducing potential liability issues for the county and creating savings in other ways.
“We have to take measures to make sure we’re not only securing the people in (the jail), we’re securing our financial responsibility, and having a safe environment for everybody involved,” he said.
Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. Follow him on Twitter: @DouglasWalkerSP.