Body scanners have been in use in prisons, airports, and countless other facilities to improve security for many years now.

While these devices have already been instrumental in improving security at these locations, the technology is continually being updated, suggesting that facilities should be updating their equipment.

Are Body Scanners Worth the Expense?

As expensive as full body scanning machines are, it might lead some to question what the value is in replacing older x-ray body scanning units with newer ones.

This is a valid question that has an equally valid response for heads of corrections facilities especially to take into consideration.

• Better Imaging - The latest technology in body scanners has introduced groundbreaking imaging improvements, with high-definition 3D imaging making it possible to detect contraband as small as a packet of powder or differentiate between living tissue and other materials.
• Lower Radiation - Improved full body scanning can now be performed using a fraction of the dose of older, legacy machines, a factor that is especially important in prison facilities and similar where multiple scans per day can be normal.
• Fewer Physical Interactions - Greater accuracy with lower radiation means fewer of the questionable images common with older x-ray body scanning machines as well as fewer pat-downs and other physical interactions. Advanced body scanners with 3D imaging and automatic detection eliminate the guesswork of older machines, making security scanning as close to being a completely hands-off process as it has ever been.

Based on these three noteworthy reasons, it should be clear how today’s more advanced body scanners make the security screening process faster and more convenient, but also safer for everyone involved.

Correctional facilities that have already updated their full body scanning capabilities are getting lower radiation readings among staff and inmates both, seeing fewer calls for pat-downs and body cavity searches, and experiencing fewer overdose incidences and illicit substances being passed around the facility.

The Final Focus

The important takeaway in this is that there is more to safety than just reducing radiation dose, which has always been a focus of improving x-ray body scanning technology.

Safety in correctional facilities is also measured by the kinds of interactions happening between inmates and staff, and the reduction of harm to the inmates themselves from contraband such as weapons and drugs.

With better ways to reduce all of these risks, every facility using full body scanning should seriously look at how upgrading to the latest technology can further improve the safety level at that facility.