Body Scanners and Dry Cell Limits

Summary#

These are final rules called the Regulations Amending the Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations (SOR/2024-181). They let the Correctional Service of Canada use body scanners in federal penitentiaries and set new limits and reporting rules for the use of dry cells. The amendments come into force on October 1, 2024.

What it does#

• Defines and authorizes two kinds of body scans:
  • non-detailed body scan — produces a simple silhouette-style result for routine checks.
  • detailed body scan — produces internal-images (like an X-ray) for higher-risk situations.
  • First mention in this section: Correctional Service of Canada and Corrections and Conditional Release Act.
• Specifies when and who can use body scanners:
  • Trained staff must operate the machines and follow health-and-safety guidance (including advice from Health Canada).
  • Detailed scans require a staff member of the same sex as the person scanned, unless gender considerations say otherwise.
  • Scans can be used on inmates, visitors and staff in many of the same situations where frisk or strip searches are currently allowed.
• Changes how dry-cell detention works:
  • An inmate may be placed in a dry cell (a cell without plumbing) only if a detailed body scan, when available and lawful, supports a reasonable belief that contraband has been ingested or is in the rectum.
  • Initial dry-cell detention is capped at 72 hours.
  • The institutional head may authorize up to two additional 24-hour extensions in narrow circumstances (for a potential maximum of 120 hours).
  • Inmates detained in dry cells must be monitored for physical and mental health; staff must refer concerns to a registered health care professional.
  • Inmates in dry cells must be given written reasons for the detention as soon as practicable.
• Reporting, oversight and data:
  • New immediate reporting rules require institutional heads to notify regional or national headquarters at set time points (e.g., at 48 hours, 72 hours, 96 hours or on release).
  • The Service must collect and analyze data on dry cell use to identify trends.
• Operational details:
  • Body scanners must be in proper working order to be used.
  • If a person refuses a scan, staff may use other search methods (including denying contact visits for visitors).
  • The regulations are supported by updates to the Commissioner’s Directives and internal procedures.

Who's affected#

• Federal inmates in institutions run by the Correctional Service of Canada.
• Institutional heads and correctional staff who will operate scanners and make dry-cell decisions.
• Visitors and staff who may be subjected to non-detailed or detailed body scans in the specified circumstances.
• The federal government (costs and training).
• Health care staff who must visit and monitor inmates in dry cells.
  If it’s unclear who else is affected, the rules apply only to federal correctional institutions, not provincial jails.

Why it matters#

• Practical effect: body scanners give staff another way to find contraband that may be inside a person’s body without forcing people to undress. That can reduce some strip searches and may be less invasive for people with trauma histories or religious needs.
• Limits on dry-cell detention (initial 72 hours, limited extensions to 120 hours) impose a clearer maximum time in restrictive confinement and add health monitoring and reporting. The rules aim to balance institutional safety with humane treatment.
• The government estimates the regulatory package will cost about $8,780,670 over 10 years and produce $99,621 in direct government savings tied to reduced dry-cell use (net impact reported as −$8,681,048). It also estimates inmates will spend 25,156 hours fewer in dry cells over 10 years.
• The detailed scans produce internal images. That raises privacy and health considerations; the regulations require training, health-and-safety information for people to be scanned, and data-handling rules.
• If anything in the source was unclear, it was the precise operational rollout timetable for all institutions (the regulations require scanners to be in proper working order and available before certain scan-based steps can be used).