The home turned into personal jail cell

Press, 7 April 1987, Page 5

The home turned into personal jail cell

NZPA-Reuters New York Frustrated by overcrowded . prisons and the high cost of jail construction, officials in the United States are bringing the prison home to convicted offenders through space-age technology. They are using tiny transmitters encircling the prisoner’s ankle to keep in 24-hour touch with “inmates.” “We’ve taken the home and turned it into a personal jail cell," said Don Richtberg, head of the electronic home detention (E.H.D.) programme on Long Island, New York. According to the United States Department of Justice, authorities in more than 20 states are using an electronic “ball and chain” to keep tabs on 900 detainees serving time at home for offences ranging from petty theft to drinkdriving.

Many officials expect the programme to expand to include more serious offenders. The transmitters are linked to computers, which monitor the probationer’s comings and goings, matching them with an approved schedule of absences for work, therapy and other activities.

Other systems rely on a central computer which

either telephones or pages the detainee, who must respond and verify that he is following his schedule.

Monitoring is generally offered for a three or four-month period on conditions similar to parole or probation. A convict with an unauthorised absence risks being sent to jail.

Authorities are still collecting data on recidivism — return to crime — but so far they view the system as promising. Fuelling the growth of E.H.D. systems are demands to hold down rocketing jail costs, to comply with court orders to reduce overcrowding in prisons, and to protect local communities from unsupervised probationers.

But civil liberties experts warn such programmes open the door to more intrusive monitoring devices.

Figures from the the Long Island Nassau County . sheriffs office puts the average cost of a day’s keep in prison at SUS7S, far more than their computer-controlled monitoring costs of $3 to $5.

In West Palm Beach, Florida, where prison space is at a premium, officials say their moni-

taring costs between $5 and $7 a day per person. E.H.D. also offers the courts an alternative to sentencing a minor offender to already overcrowded prisons or to simply cutting him loose with no sanction whatsoever.

“We had extremely limited jail space and were looking at an alternative . the judge could use to incarceration”, said B. J. Snitker, a home detention officer for rural Linn County, Oregon, where the local jail can hold 22 and still comply with court-ordered space allowances. Started in July, 1985, to punish drunk drivers, the Linn detention system has now been expanded to include those convicted of non-violent crimes, including theft, burglary and vandalism. E.H.D. proponents say it allows the probationer to hold down a regular job while adding badlyneeded structure and order to the lives of those who have gone astray. After Initial rejection of the monitoring device and its restrictions on the part of most home detainees, a sense of relief often settles In, said Mr Richtberg. “We order them to comply in a certain way and it’s like they’ve been

looking lor this, they’ve been looking for someone to tell them what to 40. It’s a strange phenomenon but it’s consistent with reports from other programmes.” The device telling than what to do ts the electronic monitor, which comes in three basic designs. The most popular is a small transmitter the size of a pack of cigarettes which is placed round the person’s ankle. The device sends out . a periodic silent signal, which is picked up by a unit linked with a central computer. All this technical sophistication, however, carries a disturbing price, according to Dan Manville, research associate with the National Prison Project, an arm of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“We have some problems with whether it is a completely free choice to offer someone monitoring or jail," he told Reuters. “Is this just the first of an extended intrusion in the homes? Are cameras next? And do you waive your Fourth Amendment rights (against improper search or seizure) when you are on electronic probation?”