Cardiff Prison is set to toughen up its security measures to stop prisoners smuggling in drugs, mobile phones and weapons.
It is one of the 16 prisons in Wales and England which will receive a new x-ray body scanner. It will be able to show live images from inside the human body - including internally concealed contraband.
The images produced by the scanner provide a level of detail inside the body that has not been seen before in the Prison Service.
It is part of a nationwide £100m package from the UK government to tackle violence and drugs in prisons and will cost £28m.
The package will also fund new measures to tackle drugs and violence in prisons including x-ray baggage scanners and metal detection equipment, phone-blocking technology and a new digital forensics facility.
Installation will begin at HMP Cardiff in Spring 2020, with all scanners in other prisons expected to be in place by the summer.
It comes after a number of instances at prisons in Wales where prisoners have smuggled drugs in.
Last year, a pregnant woman was jailed after smuggling drugs into Cardiff prison and was caught on CCTV sneaking them to her abusive partner.
Michaela Jones, 26, saw her then-boyfriend Ryan Jones during a prison visit at HMP Cardiff on October 30 last year when she smuggled in Diclazepam and tobacco wrapped in cling film.
Lucy Frazer QC MP, prisons and probation minister, said: "New technology is a vital part of our efforts to stop those determined to wreak havoc in our jails.
"These scanners will help to transform of contraband into jails and allow officers to focus on rehabbilitation.
"We're investing £2.75 billion to transform our prisons, creating 10,000 additional modern places and stepping up security to cut crime and better protect the public."
