Quebec detention centres getting body scanners to stop weapons, drugs from entering

Several new technologies are being installed in all provincial detention centres in Quebec to limit the delivery of weapons, drugs and cellphones to inmates.

On Monday, Quebec Public Safety Minister François Bonnardel announced that full body scanners will be used in 17 detention centres to detect banned objects when inmates enter and re-enter these facilities.

“We will install body scan in all of our detention facilities over March 2027,” said François Bonnardel, Quebec Public Security Minister.

“The body scanner, this is a new machine that will allow us to screen all clients as soon as they enter and exit the detention center,” added Priscillia Thiers, Director, Security and Operations Support, Quebec Correctional Services. “Allowing us to recover any items they may have in their possession that are prohibited in detention centers.”

Fencing built around the inmates’ exterior walls, as well as grills on their windows, are also being installed to prevent drones from delivering packages.

“The goal is to keep drone deliveries away from windows, thus making it a little more difficult for clients to retrieve the packages,” said Vince Parente, Director, Montreal Correctional Network. “And we’ve had significant success with this type of self-supporting fence.”

Search methods for all visitors and prison staff will be also standardized.

They will have to pass through a walkthrough detector and personal items will be checked with X-ray devices that will be installed by March 2026.

These new measures are part of the first of three phases in a plan to reduce the amount of drugs, weapons and cellphones entering jails.

In recent years, cellphones have become a significant problem as inmates can still coordinate illegal activities with these devices.

“We all want to stop the use of cellphones inside because the prisoners are using those cells to continue their operations inside their cell, inside the detention facility,” said Bonnardel. “So for me and for the agents, we have to do everything.”

Quebec’s Public Safety Minister confirmed that one of the next technologies to be implemented will be cellphone jammers to prevent cellphones from working within detention centres. 

“We had the authorization from the federal only two months ago to test different technologies coming from the RCMP in one of our detention (facilities),” he said. “So it will take a couple of weeks, a couple of months before we’re going to issue a new announcement concerning the technology that we’re going to use to prevent the prisoner from using cell phones inside detention.”

CityNews reached out to the Syndicat des Agents de la paix en services correctionnels du Québec (SAPSCQ-CSN) but haven’t received a reply.