Jail cracks down on drugs

The Pike County Detention Center has a new machine to help crack down on contraband.

Recently the Pike County Fiscal Court approved for the detention center to purchase a 185,000 dollar full body scanning machine.

“I knew contraband was an issue here at the detention center, but I didn’t know to the degree that it was,” said Pike County Jailer, Brian Morris.

Morris said the machine gets an image of an inmate’s body and allows them to see if an inmate would be sneaking drugs or weapons inside.

Morris said the machine is an investment to improve the quality of the jail and to help keep inmates safe.

“If they want to put their body in harms way and swallow contraband to get it in the jail they can do that,” said Morris.

Crews installed the machine earlier this week and jail officials began training and testing the machine Wednesday.

Morris believes this will help him achieve his goal of making the Pike County Detention Center drug free.