Electronic Monitoring: Florida's Experience (From State of Corrections: Proceedings of ACA Annual Conferences, 1989, P 28-32, 1990, Ann Dargis, ed. -- See NCJ-122583)

• NCJ Number: 122589
• Author(s): H T Dodd
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: American Correctional Association
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Florida's 4 years of experience of electronic monitoring of offenders has found that this approach provides a reasonable means of enhancing surveillance in its intensive supervision program.

Abstract

The program began in 1984 with the use of robot telephones that called offenders, who were required to answer and provide information to an audiotape. The State now uses electronic wristlets as well as the telephone robots. In March 1987, it also purchased an active system using continuous signals. The current daily costs are $1.67 for the passive systems and $3.00 for the active systems. Nevertheless, the system entails some problems. It lacks evidentiary value for providing violations, it requires considerable time to operate and manage, vendor service is sometimes undependable, product failure remains a problem, and the technology does not fit current personnel and program policies. Nevertheless, the monitoring makes it possible to monitor violations or conformance to conditions more frequently and to target problem cases more efficiently than before. It represents a small part of the solution to prison crowding, but not the total solution.