The Executive Council unanimously approved the purchase of nine full-body scanners to help curb the flow of contraband at New Hampshire’s prisons.
The five-member council voted Wednesday to authorize the state’s Department of Corrections to contract with OD Security North America of South Carolina, which has decades of experience in selling body scanners in more than 30 countries. The state will pay $911,250 total for the project, and that cost includes shipping, installation, operator training and a six-year manufacturer’s warranty.
Former Democratic governor Maggie Hassan signed a bill in 2016 approving $2 million for the body scanners and to create grant opportunities for counties that wanted to install the scanners at local jails.
But after the bill took effect, officials made changes to the security screening procedures so that not everyone entering the state’s three prisons would be required to walk through the scanners.
Senate Bill 133, signed into law by Republican governor Chris Sununu in 2017, provides greater specificity in who should be scanned by focusing on individuals entering the secure perimeter of a facility.
For example, rather than scanning every visitor, officials say they will require inmates leaving the visiting room to walk through a full-body scanner before returning to their cells.
The X-ray technology will allow correctional officers to detect contraband that an inmate could have swallowed during a visit in an attempt to smuggle in drugs. There is no requirement to scan all guards entering the prison.