Hi-tech scanners to be installed in prisons to stop smuggling

X-ray scanners are due to be installed in 16 of the country's 'mostchallenging' jails including Bedford, Norwich and Chelmsford.

The "cutting edge" scanners, specially developed for the Prison Service, canproduce "instant images from inside the human body" and reveal internallyconcealed contraband like drugs, phones and weapons, in a level of detail not previously available, according to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

Prisons with high volumes of remand prisoners, which the MoJ said pose the"greatest risk of smuggling", are being prioritised.Birmingham, Liverpool and Winchester will be the first to get the devices.

Other prisons to receive scanners in the latest phase of the roll-out include:

• Exeter

• Durham

• Preston

• Hewell

• Lincoln

• Elmley

• Pentonville

• Wandsworth

• Bristol

• Cardiff

Installation will begin in the spring with all scanners anticipated to be inplace by the summer.

It follows the successful use of older models of similar scanners in the 10Prisons Project to crack down on violence and drug use in Hull, Humber, Isis,Leeds, Lindholme, Moorland, Wealstun, Nottingham, Ranby, and Wormwood Scrubs prisons.

Steve Robson, the governor of HMP Leeds, said the addition of a scanner hadbeen a "real game changer", adding: "In the year it has been in operation, ithas found over 300 items of contraband, with prisoners finding drugs harder to come by at Leeds."

Aidan Shilson-Thomas, from the think tank Reform, said the plan will "get theball rolling on stabilising the system" but said the MoJ "must ensure that theprisons have the resources to staff these new measures", adding: "The nextstep must be to help prisoners struggling with addiction, which in turn willreduce prison violence and re-offending."