The Butler County Prison will soon use a body scanner to check new inmates for COVID-19 and contraband.

The Butler County Commissioners accepted $337,000 from a federal grant to go toward two thermal body scanners for the Butler County Prison at a meeting Wednesday, Feb. 14.

Warden Beau Sneddon said he is hopeful to purchase the scanners within the week.

“As soon as the funds are available, I will order it that day,” he said Wednesday. “We’ll probably be able to order them today. This is exciting stuff.”

Sneddon explained that the scanners will fill a void, as the jail does not have such a tool at this time.

In a January interview, Sneddon called preventing contraband among the jail’s biggest challenges. He said when someone is processed in the jail, they could be subject to a pat-down search or strip search, depending on the circumstances.

“(With) the extent people are willing to go to get contraband inside of here, we don’t always find the full amount,” he said at that time.

Late last month, three Butler County Prison inmates were charged in connection to the drug overdose death of another inmate, Alec Miller.

Qualin A. Davis, 41, Richard A. Bowser II, 23, and William J. Derrick, 42, all of Butler, were charged with possessing contraband, in relation to the Nov. 22 death of Alec Miller, 23, in his county prison cell. Davis was also charged with felonies drug delivery resulting in death, five counts of contraband and four counts of drug sales.

Court documents indicate Davis had smuggled 16.32 grams of fentanyl into the jail on Nov. 19.

One scanner will be placed in the intake processing room, and one will be placed at the Butler County Government Center. Training, set up and software costs are included in each scanner’s price, according to Sneddon.

He added all inmates will continue to undergo searches when they are processed at the prison.

“I can’t wait,” he said. “This is next-level stuff. It will really keep everybody here — staff and inmates — much safer.”

Sneddon said policies regarding the scanners will have to be drawn up with the help of the company Tek 84 in preparation for their arrival.

The money comes from federally allocated COVID-19 mitigation funds through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The grant was first proposed to the commissioners in September.