NEW YORK—Sophisticated X-ray body scanners that could curb widespread smuggling of scalpels and razors at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail have sat unused for years, shelved by a state law barring such devices that emit low doses of radiation.
The city instead is using weaker metal detectors that investigations have shown can allow blades to slip through if they are simply wrapped in duct tape.
“It’s absurd,” said Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who chairs a legislative committee overseeing the correction department. “They have these scanners and they paid a lot of money for these scanners and they’re not getting used.”
City officials say they purchased the seven airport-style body scanners in 2012 and 2013 for more than $1 million, putting them in operation at the jail complex for about a year before they learned of a state law that prohibits non-medical uses of machines that emit small doses of radiation. Federal law allows similar scanners to be used at airports and in some federal prisons.
