Photo by Brian Lehmann

Ashley Blythe, 21, walks through the Douglas County Justice Center's new security system. The L-3 Protech scanner creates a black-and-white image outlining the body but covering one's private parts. The image is deleted after each scan.

Amber Jafper, 21, stands in the L-3 security machine.

Some visitors to the Douglas County jail joke it's harder to get into jail than get out of it.

That's because, since June 9, the justice center has been making visitors undergo full-body screens that critics call invasive and embarrassing.

In fact, Douglas County is the first facility in the country to integrate a 3-D body imager and metal detector into one unit, called the ProTech.

The ProTech has been described as looking a little like a giant phone booth.

Visitors stand over a pair of yellow shoe prints and raise their hands above their heads. Then radio waves take a holographic image of their body that officers screen for weapons and contraband.

The $250,000 system is similar to ones used at the El Paso County Courthouse and a few airports, but the justice center's is the only one to combine a metal detector and scanner.

So far, visitors have been generally receptive to ProTech, said sheriff's deputy Cocha Heyden.

But not everyone.

Jim Valarinos, of Elizabeth, who conducts business at the courthouse once a month, said he finds the security process invasive.

"They are treating us like criminals," Valarinos said. "Putting your hands up above your head is what criminals have to do."

Heyden tells critics the center needs the best technology available because people are getting more creative with weapons.

ProTech enables officers to see hidden explosives, narcotics, plastics, ceramic and plexiglass, said Scott Ortolani, a local manager for the maker, L-3 Communications, headquartered in New York.

The images are deleted after each scan. In addition, Douglas County has installed software to obscure certain body parts.

"Some people call this a virtual strip search, but the chest, genitals and head are blurred - you could see something racier on a billboard," Heyden said.

Visitors who don't want to be scanned can instead be patted down. People age 18 and under are searched with wands, mainly to avoid any potential child pornography issues.

Deanna Lepley, of Littleton, said the new system makes her feel a little silly and almost like a criminal when putting her hands up. However, she still says the machine is an improvement, because it doesn't interfere with her hearing implant. She was worried she would have to remove it to go through the screening.

"It can be embarrassing, so I was really glad I didn't have to take it out," Lepley said.

Cathryn Hazouri, executive director of ACLU-Colorado, called the body scan "unnecessarily intrusive." She said she would choose to be patted down instead.

"I didn't feel unsafe before and I don't feel any safer now - this is going overboard," Hazouri said.

Holographic me

Sheriff's deputies at the Douglas County Justice Center gestured for me to step inside the plastic box that looked like a telephone booth.

I felt a little ridiculous placing my feet on amusement-park-yellow footprints and raising my arms above my head. But I had only two seconds to wait and wonder what the holographic image of my bare body would look like.

In essence, I underwent a hands-free strip search. I worried that my blouse and skirt were disappearing into a most diaphanous ensemble on the male security guard's screen.

But when the deputies let me see the holographic me, the naked truth was G-rated. There was nothing to snicker or laugh at. The image reminded me of a grainy Polaroid.

Even squinting, I couldn't recognize myself in the black and white, blurred image. Holographic me was deleted seconds later.