Warren County approves purchase of new body scanners for jail

Warren County approves purchase of new body scanners for jail

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- The Warren County Regional Jail is cracking down on contraband. For the first time in its history, the jail will soon have two scanners in place that will help staff detect illegal items brought in to the facility.

On Friday, the Warren County Fiscal Court unanimously approved Jailer Stephen Harmon’s request to purchase the devices for $196,000. The money to fund the scanners is coming from the jail’s canteen fund.

One of the devices scans the human body, while the other scanner is portable and can be used on mattresses and other items inside jail cells.

Harmon said the body scanner can find items that are often not found during strip searches.

“This will get us in the current century with that fight against contraband,” said Harmon. “You can’t put a price tag on what it costs if you have an inmate that dies of an overdose. We are real excited about what this is going to bring to our facility.”

In 2018 alone, there were 200 contraband investigations at the Warren County Regional Jail, according to Harmon.

The new technology should be installed in January or February.