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| High-Tech Device Frees Jail Space |
| By Indianapolis Star |
| Published: 03/04/2003 |
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Some Marion County officials hope they can harness two dozen satellites to make room at the overcrowded jail -- by helping them keep track of suspects like Brian Dalton. While awaiting trial on domestic violence charges, Dalton has become one of 27 defendants in the county monitored by the Global Positioning System, the same network of technology that guides smart bombs and tracks hikers. Experts say satellite monitoring is the future of home detention. Local officials say expanding the program would divert inmates from the Marion County Jail while still protecting victims and the community. The system lets officials know when Dalton, for example, is at a job interview, picking up groceries or home in bed. It's intrusive, but the 30-year-old knows it beats sitting in a jail cell. 'I was really hesitant when the judge told me this was part of my release,' said Dalton, 30, who faces charges after reports of a violent confrontation with his ex-girlfriend. 'Now I see it as another way to show my innocence.' Community Corrections has been using the GPS home detention system for about a year -- mostly for defendants awaiting trial in domestic battery cases. A few in the program have been convicted. The system is also being used in about 25 other states. Even Ken Falk of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union believes this kind of alternative to incarceration could be a much-needed release valve in a county where jail overcrowding has prompted lawsuits and violence. 'This is nothing more than basically having a super probation officer follow you around,' Falk said. 'This is nothing more than a system that does a better job of making sure the court's orders are enforced.' The GPS system consists of a 4-pound box of electronics and an ankle bracelet that must be with the defendant at all times. The gadgetry inside the box contains a cell phone and a GPS receiver -- like those used by travelers and truckers to navigate the highways. The receiver takes in signals from GPS satellites orbiting 12,000 miles out in space and tracks the suspect's location at all times. It uses the cell phone to relay the information to a central computer system at all hours. Home detention monitors can see where the defendant is on a computerized map. Computers keep a record of everywhere the suspect has been and can even tell supervisors if he was driving over the speed limit. The system is programmed with 'hot zones,' places the suspect is barred from visiting, such as the victim's home or work. If the defendant gets too close to an off-limits area, the box beeps like a loud pager and sends an instant message via e-mail, pager or fax to officials at Community Corrections. The notifications are monitored 24 hours a day by a staff member. If authorities see a suspect heading for a victim, they will call and warn the person. Such 24-hour monitoring was one result of the December 1998 death of Juanita Hill in a murder-suicide. She was killed when her husband, Robert Hill, cut off his home monitoring ankle bracelet, drove to the Northwestside home he once shared with his estranged wife and shot her to death. He then turned the gun on himself. Following procedures then in place, the private firm that monitored the electronic devices faxed a notice of his cutting of his ankle bracelet to the Marion County Justice Agency, where it sat unread overnight while Hill completed the murder-suicide. Community Corrections Director Brian Barton hopes to expand the GPS program next year and believes someday everyone on home detention will be monitored via satellites. 'I think it makes a lot of sense if you put the right person on the program,' Barton said. 'For many folks who have made a bad decision, why not allow them to continue to be a taxpayer?' The system does have flaws. It can't stop someone determined to commit a violent act. On a technical level, the tracking signals can be interrupted if the suspect goes to a rural area with few cell phone towers or enters a large building that can block signals. That's why the monitors get paged when an offender goes to court in the City-County Building. On a recent day, 56 alerts went to supervisors watching the 27 people because cell phone signals were lost. The system costs $10 a day, a cost often paid by the defendant. It costs $40 a day to keep someone in jail. A typical home detention unit is cheaper -- about $1.50 a day -- but offers much less intense supervision. In Marion County, that system is used to keep tabs on 634 people awaiting trial or serving time on home detention. The old system uses a clock radio-sized box connected to the offender's home phone and an ankle bracelet. It can tell authorities only whether the offender is home or out. To receive any warning of an alleged batterer's approach, a victim must also have a box connected to her or his phone. That device sounds an alarm when suspects cut their bracelets or go near a victim's home. Dan Beto, the president of the National Association of Probation Executives, said corrections officials across the country are seeing the advantages of the GPS system. But people continue to be key in effective home detention. 'It's a tool to enhance supervision and to enhance public safety,' Beto said. 'It is not a substitute for good supervision.' |
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