Calgary remand looks to beef up security with body scanner

The province is looking to install an airport-style body scanner at the Calgary Remand Centre in an attempt to stop drugs and other contraband from entering the facility.

Alberta Justice and Solicitor General says a pilot testing a similar scanner at the Edmonton Remand Centre yielded "positive results," with hundreds of scans flagging suspected drugs.

Not foolproof

But there are concerns the security system at the Edmonton jail still isn't foolproof, with 10 apparent overdoses occurring at the facility at the same time that inmates were being screened by the body scanner.

"That means that either the scanner failed to detect these drugs in a prisoner coming in, or the drugs were brought in by some other person," said Edmonton defence lawyer Tom Engel.

"The question has to be, what are they doing about the possibility that these drugs are coming from other sources than prisoners?"

The body scanner is designed to detect weapons, even tiny amounts of drugs and other contraband carried by inmates. The machine produces X-ray images with various filters that can expose objects that may even be concealed inside a body cavity, though the images don't show the inmate's anatomy.

The screens are an addition to the Edmonton Remand Centre's other security measures, including pat-downs, drug detection dogs and routine rounds and checks.

High-tech body scanners leave little room to hide

7 years ago

Duration 1:05

Edmonton Remand Centre security director Ken Johnston demonstrates the new body scanner to prevent the smuggling of weapons, drugs and other contraband.

The jail has screened inmates entering the facility with a body scanner since last December. In the first six months of 2018, the jail conducted 21,000 scans. More than 1,200 of them, or nearly six per cent of the total, were identified as suspicious.

According to the province, these early indications are promising. Alberta Justice and Solicitor General has issued a request for proposals seeking a potential body scanner at the Calgary Remand Centre "to see what is currently available on the market," while it makes a final decision whether to use the equipment in other facilities.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which represents corrections workers, has been calling for body scanners in all provincial jails for years and welcomed the Edmonton pilot. Union vice-president James Hart said members are worried about their safety with having dangerous drugs in the facilities.

"The scanner's been very successfuland this has helped prevent contraband like drugs from entering the centre," Hart said.

When the scanner flags a suspicious object, the inmate is put in a holding cell with a toilet. After inmates have a bowel movement, they are re-scanned and guards search the cell, according to the province. If the guards find nothing and a second scan is clear, the inmate is admitted in the jail.

Program aimed at deterrence

"The program is mainly aimed at deterrence and keeping contraband out," Alberta Justice and Solicitor General said in a statement.

"While the (remand centre) is not equipped for the examination or analysis of stool samples, scan results can be used for intelligence-gathering purposes."

Despite these precautions, apparent drug overdoses have continued to be a problem at the remand centre. There have been 10 suspected cases so far in 2018 the same number of incidents reported in all of last year, according to Alberta Health Services.

A few days in July were especially bad. A 26-year-old inmate died from a suspected overdose, with guards later finding traces of fentanyl and carfentanil in his cell. Seven more men collapsed from apparent overdoses within the following two days, though they were revived and sent to hospital.

Asked whether the spate of overdoses suggests that people other than inmates who frequent the jail, such as contractors and staff, should also be subjected to the body scanner, the province said it hasn't ruled out expanding its use. In a statement, it said any changes to its process "could be assessed in combination with our evaluation of the project."

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