Stuck at Home : Program Allows Offenders to Do Time Away From Jail

Whenever the telephone rings, William Arias changes from a smiling, easygoing young man to darn near a nervous wreck.

For several months, Arias has worn an electronic surveillance anklet while serving a jail sentence at home for drunk driving. That means authorities check on him several times a day and can call at any time.

He takes the calls armed with a tall glass of water. He says his mouth gets dry just thinking about being taken back to jail before the anklet comes off in early December.

“I’m nervous because if anything goes wrong, they could come get me and take me away,” Arias, 23, said in Spanish. “I don’t want to spend the holidays over there.”

For Sentinel Monitoring Corp., whose Burbank branch monitors Arias and other offenders throughout the San Fernando Valley for the Los Angeles County Probation Department, such testimonials are exactly what they strive for.

Despite critics who say electronic surveillance is too lenient and fails to deter crime, officials at Sentinel and many law enforcement authorities view it as a valuable alternative to jail for relatively minor offenders, particularly as correctional facilities are bursting at the seams.

Several officials also said that voters’ rejection of Proposition 205, which would have provided millions of dollars to build and upgrade jails, was a significant sign that other forms of punishment are necessary.

Barry J. Nidorf, the county’s chief probation officer, said the electronic surveillance program is simply one of several tools that help show that breaking the law will not go unpunished. It could be expanded, he said.

“People are serving 25% of their sentences,” Nidorf said. “You can’t let them walk out the door without anything else happening.”

Currently, there are about 700 adults throughout the county who are using electronic anklets while completing their jail sentences at home, said Rebecca R. Mead, a senior investigator who manages the program for the Probation Department.

The program began in 1992. Offenders must apply for the program, and the Probation Department screens candidates.

Mead said those in the program must stay within 150 feet of home unless they are authorized to be at work, at Sentinel Monitoring or at some other previously approved location. The program has a better than 90% success rate, but about 3% of the offenders have disappeared and the remainder were returned to jail for violating program rules, she said.

Mead said the program is especially worthwhile because it operates at no cost to the county. Offenders pay for the monitoring fees on a sliding scale ranging from nothing to as much as several hundred dollars a day, with the average about $15 per day, she said.

In addition, offenders serve reduced sentences and are allowed to work, attend Alcoholics Anonymous or counseling sessions and spend time with their families.

Cris Munoz-Esparza, a branch manager for Sentinel Monitoring, said that in some cases, in addition to the anklets, participants are required to pass sobriety tests. They are administered at random throughout the day using a breath alcohol tester. The results are electronically transmitted to Sentinel, along with a video image of the test taker.

Munoz-Esparza said that at any given time there are about 170 to 210 offenders assigned to the Burbank branch. The company, which is headquartered in Gardena, also has branches in Santa Clarita, Baldwin Park, Long Beach and Santa Ana, she said.

In Burbank, where offenders report to a small brick building in an industrial section of Victory Boulevard, four case managers handle the load.

At times, explaining the rules can be difficult.

Esperanza Soto, a case manager, said that occasionally, an offender asks something like whether a trip to Disneyland with the family would be OK. It isn’t, she said.

On Monday, Soto was painstakingly conducting an orientation session with Jorge Gonzalez, 37. After several months in jail for his third drunk driving conviction, Gonzalez opted to wear the anklet while completing his sentence at home.

Gonzalez, of Los Angeles, was unsure how he could work various jobs as a welder and still follow the strict rules set up by Soto, but he accepted the conditions.

“I’m being punished. I have to accept it,” Gonzalez said in Spanish. “It’s serious to drive drunk.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Home Surveillance

At-home surveillance utilizes special equipment and ordinary phone lines to monitor people serving jail sentences at home. In addition, the blood-alcohol content of drunk-driving offenders is monitored with at-home Breathalyzers.

Monitoring Offenders

1. Transmitter emits constant signal. Offender must remain within 150 feet of home for signal to register.

2. Field monitoring device picks up signal from transmitter and sends it over phone lines to monitoring center.

3. Computer at monitoring center receives signal and notifies authorities if the signal stops, which would indicate a violation.

Blood-Alcohol Testing

1. Offender receives phone call from monitoring center asking him to breathe into tester.

2. Offender breathes into tube attached to video monitor.

3. Blood-alcohol level is measured. Video image of offender and alcohol measurement are transmitted to monitoring center.

Source: Sentinel Monitoring