MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office gave Local 10 an inside take a look at the division’s physique scanning expertise that detects potential contraband earlier than it enters the jail.

Last week, a scan revealed a 41-year-old lady was hiding powder cocaine, crack cocaine and 7 grams of fentanyl in her physique, deputies reported.

“Seven grams is enough to kill hundreds of people. If it had ruptured at all, immediately she would have died,” stated Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay.

The scanner on the detention middle in Key West was bought in 2013.

“I bought this scanner for the safety and security of the facility, my men and women who work there, and the inmates,” Ramsay stated. “Last year, we actually found a weapon inside a person.”

The scan can present steel objects, some prosthetics and potential contraband hidden – or “suitcased” within the physique.

The National Institute of Justice just lately reported that contraband is a “formidable threat at correctional facilities nationwide.” Recent headlines present how scanners have picked up on gadgets like stashed drugs, scissors and weapons.

Miami-Dade Corrections officers instructed Local 10 they put in full-body, low-dose X-ray scanners in 2018. In a press release, MDCR stated the division “has been able to stop a plethora of contraband from entering our facilities, including those concealed internally and externally on an individual’s body.”

At the Broward Sheriff’s Office, there have been 36 documented incidents the place contraband was intercepted in the course of the consumption course of using the SecurePass physique scanner.

“I want people to know I have it, I use it,” Ramsay stated concerning the expertise within the Keys. “It’s for the safety and security of the facility — and people who try to suitcase it in there, you’re just going to get in more trouble in the end.”