Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
After four inmates died in the West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center this year from drug overdoses, parish leaders are searching for solutions. One idea the sheriff plans to implement is a full-body scanner system, which would cost more than $200,000. “While I’m always exploring new technology and its benefits to enhance safety and efficiency, the recent inmate deaths have prompted a deeper evaluation of this technology and its ability to strengthen security within our facility,” West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Jeff Bergeron wrote in an email. The department is currently looking into different manufacturers and speaking with other correctional facilities about which scanner to purchase, Bergeron said. Body scanners in jails and prisons often use low-level radiation to detect concealed items such as drugs or weapons. The sheriff’s office said the new scanner will be used on all inmates. A spokesperson said the department has not yet created a policy on if visitors, attorneys and guards will also be subjected to the scanner. Inmate fatalities Contraband drug overdoses caused four deaths at the detention center this year, the sheriff’s office said. The most recent inmate who died, Nicholas Henderson, 26, allegedly supplied a synthetic cannabinoid to another now-dead inmate, 30-year-old Jeremy Paul, who appeared to have overdosed back in August, according to a release from the sheriff’s office. When Henderson was found unresponsive several weeks later, the sheriff’s office said it had conducted multiple shakedowns leading to arrests and the confiscation of contraband. A press release in March alluded to another inmate overdose as a result of access to contraband drugs. Ryan Moreau, 38, was observed receiving an unknown item from a fellow inmate. He suffered a medical emergency shortly after and died in the hospital days later. After a facility-wide shakedown, corrections staff found contraband including homemade weapons, prescription medications from the medical department and papers soaked in unknown substances. Some of these papers tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids, the sheriff’s office release said. Unterio Lewis, 46, also died at the jail earlier this year from drug toxicity. The sheriff requested the funds for a full-body scanner to combat the recent security incidents, West Baton Rouge Parish Council Chair Carey Denstel said. A budget amendment of $226,500 for the detention center appeared on a parish council meeting agenda in October, but was punted until the hearings for the 2026 departmental budgets, which started this week. “They’ve had some issues at the detention center, the sheriff’s department has,” Denstel said. “This is to add some upgrades to the detention center at the request of the sheriff.” Denstel said the expense, which will provide for the purchase, installation and training for a full-body scanner system, will not be a problem for the detention center because it already has a “hefty” balance.
