The Monroe County Jail is one of the firsts in Indiana to use high-tech body scanners to check inmates before entering the jail. The scanners search for drugs, needles, lighters and other weapons that might try to be smuggled in.

Jail commander Sam Crowe says the process is safer than the traditional pat-downs.

“It’s something that is really going to make our jobs a lot safer,” says Crowe. “It’s going to make the inmate population safer because not as many people will be smuggling things into the jail.”

A few years ago, several inmates were hospitalized, one in critical condition, because of harmful drugs that were missed during inspection. These scanners will prevent that from occurring, and overall make the process safe.

The scanner takes just 15 seconds to do a complete search. Inmates stand on a moving platform that uses an x-ray to detect anything that may be inside of someone.

According to Crowe, just two days after they installed the scanner, they had already caught their first inmate attempting to smuggle in drugs. The detector can even find paper thin items through different filters.