London's EMDC to get body scanner in next two weeks, says province

Tick tock. 

The ministry that oversees the province's jails has two weeks to fill a promise to install a full-body scanner at London's embattled Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre. 

First promised in 2016, the body scanner checks those going into the Exeter street jail for weapons and drugs. There's already a similar scanner in a facility where inmates serve weekend sentences, but the main jail doesn't have one. 

"I've learned to take everything they say with a grain of salt. I've been disappointed too many times with inaction to take them at face value," said lawyer Kevin Egan, who represents inmates at the jail involved in lawsuits about conditions inside. 

'They've got to tear it down and build a new one.'

7 years ago

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London lawyer Gord Cudmore says the best way to stop the escalating level of violence inside EMDC is to tear it down and build a more modern facility.

The scanner is supposed to ensure contraband doesn't get inside and make conditions worse. 

Jail staff in training 

Ministry officials told CBC News that the scanner "is on track for installation by the end of the year" at EMDC. 

It said a total of 26 will be installed province-wide at a cost of $9.5 million, including maintenance of the machines. 

The ministry said staff at the London facility are currently being trained for the day the machines are operational. 

Since 2009, 10 people have died under suspicious circumstances at the jail, include from drug overdoses, murder and suicide. 

London North Centre MPP Deb Matthews said Friday the tours she's had of the jail have convinced her that a scanner is necessary. 

"There's no question that EMDC needs a body scanner. The ministry is working to get it installed as quickly as possible. If they're telling you the end of the year, I'm sure they'll make every effort to get it in by the end of the year," Matthews said. 

"One of the big problems there is that people are bringing in contraband in their body cavities ... and causing real problems within the jail."

Will body scanners detect fentanyl? 

Current methods of contraband detection include a body orifice scanner chair that detects metal, as well as hand-held and walk-through metal detectors, strip searches and dogs. 

But those methods can't always detect items that aren't metallic, or that are hidden internally. 

Egan cautioned that "next-generation contraband," such as the powerful opioid fentanyl, might not be detectable by the full-body scanner, either. 

But he said it's worth trying. 

"The scanner may or may not be effective in detecting (fentanyl)," Egan said. "I'm hopeful that it will make a difference, but had they been installed years ago when they ought to have been, we would have had fewer deaths up until now, and less violence."

The province has said "corrections transformation remains a top priority" and that the ministry is focusing on improving staff and inmate safety, rehab and re-integration programs, and health care support for inmates, among other improvements.