Mahoning commissioners agree to buy full-body scanning equipment for county jail

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County commissioners this morning agreed to buy a full-body security scanning system for the county jail.

The system is to be acquired for $127,500 from OD Security North America LLC of College Station, Texas, through the Ohio Department of Administrative Services.

Sheriff Jerry Greene and Maj. Alki Santamas, county jail administrator, had discussed such a purchase with the commissioners during a June 2016 staff meeting that immediately followed two non-fatal county jail inmate overdoses believed to have been caused by fentanyl.

The powerful synthetic opioid was reportedly smuggled into the jail in a body cavity of a third inmate, who was charged with carrying the drug into the lockup.

Jail medical staff swiftly administered Narcan to the inmates who had overdosed.

Full-body scanners are used in the Hamilton, Cuyahoga, Stark and Medina County jails and in federal prisons.

The digital airport-style X-ray machine that was under consideration here last June would have cost $212,000.

In March 2017, the Trumbull County commissioners agreed to advertise for bids for purchase of a full-body scanner for that county’s jail for use during inmate booking.

There, Sheriff Paul Monroe said the scanner would pay for itself if it would prevent the county from incurring liability for a single drug overdose death.

For the complete story, read Friday's Vindicator and Vindy.com