IOWA Prisons Prepare as Opioid Epidemic Increase

 

Iowa’s Department of Corrections is preparing for a possible increase in the number of inmates infected with HIV and hepatitis C because of the opioid epidemic, an outcome that could put pressure on an already cash-strapped system.

 

State public health officials say they have yet to link any new HIV infections to opioid use, but they do attribute an "alarming" rise in hepatitis C infections to the epidemic. 

 

Jerome Greenfield MD, Health Services Administrator for IOWA Department for Corrections, said the department will need a $1 million budget increase going into the 2019 budget year to accommodate rising pharmaceutical costs for things like HIV and hepatitis C, as well as a generally aging prison population. 

 

Dr Greenfield, said that in FY17 20 patients suffering from Hepatitis C, which depending on the drugs used, the costs are either over $46,000 or $72,000 per patient, making a total of over 1 Million USD!

 

ODSecurity believe that safety begins with scanning.

 

If you can stop the Opioids from getting into the prisons, then you are working from a positive position.

 

Attempts to smuggle drugs, weapons and cell phones into prisons are carried out in many ways and contraband is sometimes hidden in the body to escape stringent security checks. Strip searching is sometimes required to find contraband. However, the process of strip searching has many disadvantages as it is an intense and unpleasant process that is not always effective.

 

ODSecurity’s SOTER RS is a low dosage full body scanner combining ultra-low radiation with maximum visibility and is already used successfully at many prisons for scanning visitors and inmates. It uses a minuscule dose of radiation and is therefore harmless, the dose absorbed is lower than 2 µS.

 

The SOTER RS is extremely simple and fast. The person to be scanned stands on a platform that is transported from left to right. This process takes about 10 seconds and during that period an x-ray image is generated, showing the entire body and all contraband is revealed in it.

 

Additionally, Prison officers can operate the SOTER RS without the need for any formal specialist training.

 

The SOTER RS makes it impossible to smuggle contraband in the human body.