The county prison board is hoping to get approval for a state grant application for a $162,000 body scanner to improve health and security at the prison.

The application for a thermal body scanner was submitted in November to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, which is awarding grants from federally allocated COVID-19 mitigation funds, said warden Beau Sneddon.

Sneddon told the prison board Tuesday, Jan. 16, he in hoping to learn the fate of the application soon.

The scanner would be used help detect COVID and contraband when inmates are brought into the jail, which does not have a scanner now, he said.

Staff training and equipment setup are included in the cost, he added.

In other business, board members noted during a review of a financial report that the prison spent $410,036 on Medication Assisted Treatment for patients with drug use disorder.

To cover the cost, $232,635 was transferred from the county’s opioid settlement fund and $178,001 was taken from operating funds. The board began tracking MAT costs last year.

The board reelected Sheriff Mike Slupe as chairman, Commissioner Leslie Osche as vice chairwoman, and controller Ben Holland as secretary during a reorganization.