The Guardian: ‘Digital shackles’: the unexpected cruelty of ankle monitors
Every day at about 5pm, 60-year-old Willard Birts has to find a power outlet. Then he has towait two hours next to it while the battery on his ankle monitor recharges. If he lets the battery drain, or enters San Mateo county, he risks being sent back to jail while he awaits trial.
Birts pays $30 per day – that’s $840 per month – for the privilege of wearing the bulky device. It sucks up all his income, leaving him homeless and sleeping in his Ford Escape in Oakland.
“It’s like a rope around my neck,” he told the Guardian, a cable snaking across the floor from his ankle to the wall. “I can’t get my feet back on the ground.”
The use of GPS ankle monitors in the American criminal justice system is on the rise – up 140% between 2005 and 2015, says the latest data available. The government uses these devices to track the location of individuals to make sure they are complying with the terms of their release, whether that’s being at home every night after a certain time or avoiding specific places. They appear to offer a tantalising alternative to jail and the chance to be with family on the outside.
But wearers described them as digital shackles that deprive them of their liberties in cruel and unexpected ways.
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Having never lived in a homeless camp…thank God…I just wondered where the electrical outlet is so that one might use it to charge the battery for a GPS monitor?
I knew a young man I Bay City, Michigan 3 years ago who was homeless, living in a tiny tent, and wearing a GPS tether. During days when the probation office was open, he would recharge in the waiting area. On weekends he would sit out in the cold downtown where there were some outlets, or at the bus station if it was open. Everything was a 5 mile walk. Big problem with the device is the times when the charge wouldn’t last 24 hours.
Is there any case or law that says how long you can be without the ankle monitor before it is a violation. Is there any minimum standard for violation? This was Gilcrest county, FL
they charge for gps tracking but save $$ in wages and gas, etc… but no longer having someone on overtime driving around checking up on people The US Gov. has more than 1 way at a time to screw people!