The Beltrami County Jail now has a full body scanner.
According to a release, the department is waiting on a variance from the Minnesota Department of Health to begin using this equipment.
The scanner will be used on offenders to ensure they are not bringing contraband into the jail, whether it be on or inside their person.
In 2019, 11 inmates overdosed, with eight of those being long after the booking of the inmate.
Contraband had entered the jail another 84 times last year alone, which went undetected by the officers’ pat-downs and searches. The scanner uses relatively lower doses of radiation, between .05 and 2 Sievert units.
A one-hour commercial flight can vary between 1 and 10 of these units, depending on altitude and position of the sun, and a chest x-ray patient would receive about 10 units.
