By Gracie Bonds Staples
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday unveiled a body screening portal that promises to detect hidden weapons and other contraband on jail inmates.
“This is just an additional tool being used along with the other methods we regularly employ in order to keep our staff and the inmates in our facility safe,” said Stacy Bourbonnais, a department spokesperson.
The Gwinnett County Jail is the first in the country selected by the National Institute of Justice to test the ProVision Body Scanner and provide feedback to the agency.
NIJ officials demonstrated the technology during a news conference at the jail.
Millimeter wave technology can penetrate materials that visual and infrared sensors cannot, said Christopher McAleavey, deputy director of Sensors, Surveillance & Biometric Technologies Center for Excellence, a program of the NIJ.
The Plexiglas and steel portal is slightly larger than a telephone booth. Inmates step inside and lift their arms while radio waves from rotating antennas bounce off them. Within seconds, a guard in a nearby booth can look over a dark-but-detailed image of their body.
The jail test began last week and will run for 90 days.
“Inmates already are talking about how you don’t want to try to sneak anything in,” said Bourbonnais. About 40,000 inmates come into the facility each year.
The department intends to began researching grant opportunities to possibly purchase the machine at an estimated $150,000.
The portal currently is being used by the Transportation and Security Administration at an increasing number of airports, including Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta.
Copyright 2009, Atlanta Journal-Constitution