From TBO.com

LAND O' LAKES --

At jails throughout the country, inmates frequently try to smuggle all manner of contraband with them behind bars.

Thanks to $195,000 in federally-confiscated drug money, the Land O' Lakes Jail now has a full-body scanner that can tell if an inmate is hiding something, whether it's a gun or knife, cigarettes, a cell phone or prescription pills.

The scanner, known as the Radpro Securpass, can detect items hidden in an inmate's clothing or inside their body. A scan takes 8 seconds. A traditional strip search can take 15 minutes.

Every inmate who arrives at the jail's booking section will be scanned, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said Thursday morning as he unveiled the contraption to media representatives.

Regarding rampant prescription-pill smuggling, Nocco said inmates will "will do anything possible" to feed their addictions in jail.

"Use your imagination, that's what prisoners do," he said.

Dennis Wolfe of Virtual Imaging, which makes the device, said the scanner is different from those used at airports. It does not show a person's anatomical outline or facial features.

Wolfe demonstrated how the machine works. After removing his shoes, he stepped on a sliding platform and passed slowly through the machine's low-radiation imaging beam. X-ray images showed a small key stuffed into his sock, a pen in his shirt, a wallet in his pocket and other small items.

"They'll try to bring wire, razor blades or paper clips in their mouth – anything that could be made into weapon," Wolfe said. "Whether it's ferrous or non-ferrous, organic or inorganic, we can find it."

Arresting deputies will put inmates through the scanner. If anything illegal is found, additional charges can be added on the spot.

The Land O' Lakes Jail is the third county jail in Florida – Collier and Palm Beach counties have the other jails – to use Securpass, which also is used at the federal transfer center in Oklahoma City, Wolfe said.

"It's really starting to catch on," he said.

It didn't take long for the free scanner to pay dividends at the jail Thursday.

"We've already had a success this morning," Nocco said. "We already found someone with prescription pills on them.

"Don't try to smuggle something into our jail," he said. "Don't commit a crime in Pasco County, and you won't have to go through this device."