Ion scanners in Ontario jails are expensive and harmful
Technology won't keep drugs out, say Sarah Speight and Justin Piché.
Recently, the Ontario ministry of the Solicitor General announced the $385,000 rollout of ion scanners across 10 provincial institutions, including the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre (OCDC). These machines are being sold as a necessary addition to the full body X-ray scanner project initiated by the province in 2016. Unfortunately, both contraband detection technologies are unreliable, and their use at OCDC and elsewhere will result in unintended consequences for people not involved with bringing in drugs.
Ion scanners don't definitively show who's carrying contraband in the body, but rather who has trace elements of drugs on their person. These machines are incredibly sensitive and trace amounts of drugs can be picked up by something as common as handling money. Ion scanners are currently used to screen visitors in federal institutions, resulting in a concerning number of false positives.
In his 2016-2017 report, Correctional Investigator of Canada Ivan Zinger noted that, despite a high rate of false positives, ion scanners have “failed to have any significant impact on the rate of positive random urinalysis drug testing results” on prisoners, which “remained stable despite significant investment in new detection and surveillance technologies.” Such findings suggest that the ion scanners Ontario is purchasing aren't only expensive, but won't deter drug consumption either at OCDC or other provincial jails.
The use of these scanners will also subject newly admitted prisoners to further surveillance and punishment based on a screening technology long recognized as over-sensitive and unreliable.
For many, especially criminalized people who are unhoused and struggling with substance use and who are arrested on the street, a positive scan will be inevitable, even when they don't have drugs on them.
Currently, when a prisoner scans positive on the full-body X-ray scanner, the dry-cell protocol is often initiated. This involves being placed in dry-cell segregation without running water while wearing only a “security gown” without socks or underwear. If a similar protocol is used following positive ion scans in jails like OCDC, this could result in numerous segregation placements.
Significant court delays could also follow if the ion scanner is used before transporting people to and from judicial proceedings, as has been reported with the full-body X-ray scanner.
In response to Ontario's announcement, the provincial union OPSEU issued a press release celebrating this investment, suggesting that the presence of ion scanners will keep jail staff safe from fentanyl exposure.
OPSEU also referenced a 2019 incident in which three guards at the Sarnia Jail were hospitalized due to reported fentanyl exposure.
While these hospitalizations are unfortunate, the federal experience shows ion scanners won't prevent fentanyl from entering provincial prisons.
There's been growing hysteria amongst law enforcement officials in Canada and the United States who report to emergency rooms concerned about fentanyl exposure but exhibiting symptoms entirely inconsistent with drug toxicity, such as anxiety attacks.
In response to this trend, the American College of Medical Toxicology released a statement confirming, “toxicity cannot occur from simply being in proximity of the drug … it is just not plausible that getting a small amount of fentanyl on your skin is going to cause significant opioid toxicity.”
Ontario jail staff can stay safe by following existing safety protocols without the province having to raid its coffers to purchase ineffective equipment from parasitic corporations that peddle technology as a solution to complex issues.
Drugs enter OCDC and other provincial jails through a variety of ways. Investing in over-sensitive and unreliable technologies isn't evidence-based.
Rather than funding ineffective high-tech responses to the overdose crisis, Ontario should increase access to harm reduction services that don't criminalize drug use and put naloxone in the hands of prisoners to allow them to keep each other safe, should they continue to use drugs while in custody.