Contraband Detection in Prisons Using Safe, Continuous, Passive Terahertz Imaging (SafeJail)

Prisons in the UK and globally are facing continued and increasing drug and contraband problems. At least 15,000 mobile phones or SIM cards were confiscated in English and Welsh prisons in 2017 (one for every six inmates, a 50% increase in 3 years). Drugs were found 13,119 times in prisons in England and Wales in 2017 (35+ incidents per day, 3x increase from 2014), with smugglers resorting to technologies such as drones for delivery. Staff smuggling is also exacerbating the situation. The value of UK prison drug market is an estimated £100m, according to the Prison-Officers-Association. All this is leading to unrest in prisons, compromising prisoners' health and compromising the safety of all prison stakeholders.

There is an urgent need for enhanced scanning techniques that can offer safe and non-invasive scanning of prisoners on a daily basis, without interruption to normal prison routine. Existing solutions require prisoners to be stationary during a scan, are time-consuming and cannot detect contraband items smaller than 5cm by 5cm. SafeJail is an 18-month project that seeks to develop and demonstrate a novel technique for the safe and continuous non-interruptive scanning of prisoners, visitors and staff as they carry out their normal activities. This project will develop a passive (non-emitting) imaging camera with robust object recognition capability provided by machine learning algorithms. The successful exploitation of the technology will result in cumulative revenue of £58m after 6 years in the market.