BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Erie County Sheriff’s Office Jail Management Division has obtained and installed several pieces of modern, state-of-the-art equipment designed to enhance deputies’ and corrections officers’ efforts to secure the Erie County Holding Center and Erie County Correctional Facility, Sheriff John Garcia announced today.
The purchases include two whole body scanners. One has been installed at the Erie County Holding Center, and one has been installed at the Erie County Correctional Facility. The purchases were funded, in part, by revenues obtained by the Erie County Sheriff’s Office from New York State related to the local incarceration of state-ready individuals during the DOCCS crisis in 2025. The new scanners replace outdated and unreliable equipment that had previously been installed in the two Jail Management Division facilities. These devices are utilized every time a new individual is booked into custody and each instance an individual is suspected of concealing contraband.
The upgrades also include four walk-through metal detectors and four handheld metal detectors to be divided between the two facilities. This technology will be utilized at the main entrances and in the visitation areas.
The purchases total about $445,000 worth of equipment, representing a major investment in safety within Jail Management Division facilities.
“These devices have been installed with one goal in mind: interdicting and prohibiting dangerous contraband from entering our two facilities,” said Sheriff Garcia. “We are charged with keeping each of the individuals in our custody and our staff safe. That means we must do everything we can to keep drugs and weapons outside these walls. These technology upgrades mark a major advancement in our ability to do so. This work is as important as it ever has been, given how lethal contraband can be.”