Up Next?… Rectum Scanners Started For UK Prisons
Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, November 27, 2010, 4:24 PM
So you think getting groped at the airport is uncomfortable now…
In Great Britain they are using rectum scanners to prevent phones, drugs and other paraphernalia from being smuggled into prison. Already the scanners have detected 21 mobile phones in just a few months.
Via Sweetness and Light and The Telegraph:
The £6,500 chairs are being put in 102 jails across Britain aimed to tackle a surge in phone smuggling.
Prisoners will have to sit on the chairs, called Body Orifice Security Scanners (Boss), which bleep if they have a phone hidden inside them.
They are then scanned in a non-intrusive manner and can also be used to detect drugs and weapons.
The mobile Boss chairs have three sensitive sensors which can detect metal items as small as a pin.
Resembling an electric chair, they have a metal detector on the seat and audio and visual alarms are activated when metal is carried into the magnetic field.
The person being screened positions their chin near the oral sensor and then sits momentarily in the chair. The entire procedure takes a few seconds.
So far two of the Boss devices have helped detect 21 mobile phones in just months at Woodhill prison, in Milton Keynes.
Prisons Minister David Hanson said: “This is a valuable tool towards identifying mobile phones.
“We want to prevent mobile phones coming in, prevent contact with drug runners on the outside, prevent intimidation and prevent individuals running criminal activities from inside.”
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Published May 15, 2012 at 8:05 pm - 34 Comments
Bob McCarty commented:
It’s hard to get behind this policy.
Dave-O commented:
Gives new meaning to the Ma Bell slogan – Reach out and touch someone
gastorgrab commented:
Why on earth would they need to scan the rectums of inmates in order to prevent cellphones from coming in? In the UK, don’t vans drive around the streets and attempt to locate “illegal televisions”, using the radio waves?
Would the technology to jam all cellphones in a prison be less expensive that the technology to scan butt-holes?.
Conservative Ken commented:
Warning to the TSA…
There’s a bomb up there, just not the one you’re looking for.
Daniel commented:
gastorgrab is right.
Here in Maryland we have (finally) tested and installed (?) cell phone inhibitors inside prisons. Particularly certain prisons to start with.
Of course, I can’t say anything about their effectiveness. I would, if I could.
Cmate commented:
Now it’s mothers milk!
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/11/our-new-safety-overlords/67079/
Dave-O commented:
Hopefully, someone won’t call while the scanner is operating. If the phone rings, who will answer? I’ll bet Big Sis would love to get her hands on this technology!
Dave-O commented:
There’s a rumor that Barney Frank has volunteered to help spearhead (sorry) such a scanning program here in the United States – he reportedly has stated that he wants to bring a “human element” to this process.
C-CS commented:
does Soros own shares in the UK scanners too?
Zilla of the Resistance commented:
Gives new meaning to “government up our asses” doesn’t it? I’m sure Janetalia Napornitano is already licking her chops at the very idea of doing this to us here.
Mac commented:
Will Homeland Security be bringing up the rear on this?
MrGoodWench commented:
Why do they need an expensive scanner ?
Keving Jennings will do it for free
John Stanford commented:
Um, yeah, UK prisons, not US airports.
Marybel commented:
I’m not worried about prisoners or their rights being violated. It’s law-abiding citizens who shouldn’t be subjected to crap like this – pun unavoidable.
JoeInMD commented:
It’s rather silly that they’d have to do a rectal scan to find cell phones. I mean, those things blast RF energy in a well-known spectrum anytime they’re not on “airplane mode.” The company I work for even makes a much less intrusive detection system:
http://www.iiw.itt.com/products/cellHound/prodCell.shtml
befuddled commented:
oh my, if soros starts buying up stock in the company, I am definitely getting behind him. come to think of it, our education czar has been introducing the concept of “fisting”, perhaps this is just in prepartion for future security measures.
Andreas K. commented:
Uhm… British PRISONS. They want to cut down on prisoners smuggling stuff in and out.
That’s not a bad thing.
When looking at how lax German and Austrian prisons are… and how much is smuggled in and out, I guess we should introduce those things as well.
Or simply copy Japanese prisons. Uniforms, prisoners being marched to work, prisoners having no rights like voting, etc, and privileges are handed out based on behavior. If you want to watch tv, you better behave in a Japanese prison.
Not like here, where you have a RIGHT for a tv.
Bunni commented:
Lets hope the prisoners aren’t using the mobile phone feature on the new i-pad like tablets out there, that could get painful. Brrrrrrrring, Avon calling, imcompetano, it’s for you.