A full body scanner, like the ones used at airports around the country, is coming to the Gwinnett County Detention Center for use on inmates.

Gwinnett County Commissioners signed off on the purchase Tuesday.

Gwinnett Sheriff's Major Carl Simms tells WSB's Sandra Parrish that the department, which was a test pilot for the machines two years ago, found it so successful in locating contraband that it wanted one permanently.

"We found a lot of things to start with (like) food items, cigarette items... basic essentials they'd tried to sneak back into the jail," he says. "Once it became known that that machine was out there, we found nothing."

Simms says something as small as a pack of gum can trigger a fight among inmates.

"So if we can screen that and stop it at the front door, we save ourselves a lot of problems up front," he says.

All inmates booked into the jail will be scanned as well as those coming and going from work details and court appearances.

The machine, which costs more than $170,000, will be purchased using seized drug money and should be in place later this summer.