Ankle Monitors Show A Higher Rate Of Success

Within the Florida Department of Corrections (DOC), only 6 percent of roughly 10,000 criminals on active house arrest wear electronic monitors, despite studies showing that these devices slash flight-risk in half.

Studies also show that with electronic monitors, the number of people successfully completing their house-arrest rose 500 percent. The Florida DOC currently uses electronic monitors only when a judge orders them to because outfitting all house-arrest criminals would be too expensive.

Some criminals wear a ProTech Monitoring tool that uses GPS satellites to provide 24-hour specific-location tracking, while other criminals use an “RF” monitor that uses phone lines and can only tell police whether a suspect is within or outside of their house.

ProTech President Steve Chapin says that because criminals know they are being monitored via these devices, “it modifies behavior.” As of October this year, the Florida DOC was using 370 ProTech monitors and 220 RF monitors among 10,000 house-arrest criminals.

House arrest costs the Florida DOC $11.16 per day per criminal, with satellite monitoring costing $20.33 per day and RF monitoring $13.91 per day. Overall, 60 percent of Florida DOC house-arrest criminals violate their sentences before completion.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Orlando Sentinel (12/29/02) P. A15; Stutzman, Rene. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-asecharrestgps29122902dec29