Federal prisons will begin purchasing full-body scanners this summer, five years after Parliament approved their use, according to a Correctional Service report. Blacklock's Reporter says scanners have been standard in federal airports since 2008.“A tender process is underway and we anticipate awarding the contract to the successful vendor in summer 2024,” stated the report titled Ministerial Transition Material. This initiative follows a successful test of scanners at penitentiaries in Alberta and Ontario.“In July 2022, body scanners were deployed at Edmonton Institution for Women and Bath Institution as part of a pilot program to further supplement current contraband detection methods,” the report noted. “As a condition of this pilot, inmates must voluntarily consent to a body scan.”Parliament passed Bill C-83 in 2019, amending the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to permit full-body scans of inmates and visitors at penitentiaries. “It will take some time for body scanners to be installed in every institution,” then-Liberal MP Karen McCrimmon, parliamentary secretary for public safety, said at the time. “Correctional staff still need to be confident inmates are not smuggling drugs.”Full-body scanners, identical to those used for air passengers, were first introduced at BC’s Kelowna International Airport in 2008. “The Correctional Service recognizes the importance of keeping contraband out of institutions,” stated the report.A 2023 Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement by the Correctional Service projected a $7.8 million expenditure for installing the machines. Wardens have expressed concerns that current measures—such as frisk searches, handheld X-ray scanners, and metal detectors—are insufficient for detecting contraband hidden inside individuals.“Although these methods are very effective in detecting contraband on a person, they do not address the risk associated with individuals attempting to introduce contraband hidden inside a person,” the Analysis Statement explained.Despite the 2015 passage of Bill C-12, the Drug-Free Prisons Act, which revoked parole for any inmate who failed a drug test, narcotic use in prisons has increased. A 2020 report titled Overdose Incidents In Federal Custody acknowledged the law’s ineffectiveness, stating, “The number of opioid-related overdose incidents in federal custody has increased over the past six years.”The Correctional Service has also confiscated thousands of bootleg cellphones used by inmates to bypass monitored prison payphones. A 2023 Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the Commons revealed that wardens had seized 2,800 “electronic devices” in the previous five years.
