This web page summarizes and provides access to the full report entitled "A Market Survey on Contraband Detection Technologies," which provides corrections officials with an overview of the technologies that are available to detect contraband, along with insight into technologies that may be available to them in the future.
The National Criminal Justice Technology Research, Test, and Evaluation Center, which is sponsored by the U.S. Justice Department's National Institute of Justice (NIJ), conducted the market survey of commercial contraband detection technologies. Contraband includes items such as weapons, tools, and narcotics, as well as other types of items inmates are prohibited from accessing. The report summarizes information provided by 33 commercial vendors on 103 products. The report does not evaluate or rank technologies or express opinions on the quality of the technologies. The products are compared based on information collected from multiple sources, including the vendors. Summary tables that outline the availability of specific types of products are included in one chapter, and another chapter presents individual product summaries on each of the 103 products. The products are presented under three general categories: person-borne detection, vehicle-borne detection, and environmental detection. Person-borne detection technologies are used to find contraband concealed on a person. These are primarily hand-held and walk-through devices. Vehicle-borne detection consists of technologies that detect contraband concealed in cars and trucks that come onto correction facility grounds. These include camera systems, visual search aids, and drive-through systems. Environmental detection involves technologies that detect contraband hidden in various places.