X-Ray Scanners Approved For Riverside Jails

A request by Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to have six X-ray scanners be used to search inmate jail cells has been approved by the County Board of Supervisors.

The jails serviced by these scanners will include:

• Robert Presley Detention Center  in Riverside
• Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning
• Blythe Jail in Blythe
• Indio Jail in Indio
• Southwest Jail in Murrieta

The measure passed 4-0, with Supervisor John Tavaglione being absent. The total cost for the purchase is estimated to be $153,000.  Astrophysics Inc., which makes the devices, will provide the devices “to correctional personnel at the county’s five detention facilities, where scanners will aid in ‘identifying and reducing the introduction of weapons and contraband and assist in the detection of weapons and contraband already in the possession of inmates’”, reports Valley News.

A Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said that although X-ray scanners have been used for jail cell inspections for more than 10 years, they have previously been most used to “scan contents of inmates’ property boxes”.

Three vendors submitted to an earlier request for proposal. Sheriff’s officials say the cost for the equipment falls within their budget parameters.

In Sept. 2011 the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons awarded Astrophysics a contract for 67 X-ray machines, which are now being utilized in correctional facilities throughout the U.S. The company also provides services to the California Administrative Office of the Courts, the largest court system in the world. A company spokesman said a total of 400 X-Ray scanners will be installed in their offices over the next five years.

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