COLUMBUS, Ind. – The Community Corrections Advisory Board on Friday morning authorized corrections director Rob Gaskill to go before the county commissioners and request the purchase of a body scanner. Funding exists for the device through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Gaskill said that the use of CARES Act money is justified because a scanner would almost completely eliminate pat-downs of participants in corrections programs, thereby enhancing social distancing. Officials would like to buy the same model, using the same vendor, as the recently-acquired jail scanner.
The corrections department would also like to obtain software allowing the two scanners to talk to each other, so that accurate records can be kept on inmate radiation levels.
The cost of the scanner is $149,000 and the software price is $5,000.