'Immediate Success': Rogers County Jail Utilizes New Full Body Scanner To Keep Out Contraband

The Rogers County Jail recently got a full body scanner that inmates go through during booking to help find hidden contraband and keep it out of the jail.

The sheriff's office says it’s been working great, but they didn’t realize how effective it was until it went down for a couple days and drugs started showing up in the jail. 

The sheriff's office fights every day to keep drugs, weapons, and other contraband out of the jail to keep inmates and jail staff safe.

The sheriff says with the increase in fentanyl they have to rely on technology because inmates will find any way to get drugs into the jail. 

Each person booked into the Rogers County Jail goes through a full body scan machine, that gives jail employees an x-ray image. The sheriff's office says they find hidden contraband daily.

"Immediate success. We've needed it. I can't imagine anybody trying to operate a jail, any facility like this without the blessings of a full body scanner. In today's world with fentanyl being a threat wherever we are at, especially in a jail,” said Sheriff Scott Walton. 

Sheriff Walton says inmates get so creative when it comes to hiding drugs, it will stretch your imagination. The scanner will alert the detention officers of any objects in the body. 

"That object will have a shape to it. It could be in the form of a baggie, pill canister, any type of edged weapon or small knife, handcuff key,” Walton said. 

Walton said they rely heavily on the scanner, and it's already stopped lots of contraband from getting into the jail.

He says the scanner went down for a few days recently and a detention officer immediately caught inmates with drugs.

Walton said it’s dangerous for both inmates and workers if any type of contraband gets into the jail. Even just a small amount of fentanyl can be deadly. 

"The mere presence of tobacco in a jail is bad enough. It causes problems. They will fight in a minute over a cigarette,” said Walton. "You look back and think, how did we survive without this? You'd never want to move forward without it."