NCJ Number
111750
Journal
Offender Monitoring Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: (October 1987) Pages: 4-7
Date Published
1987
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This interview with the director of a New Jersey statewide intensive supervision program which uses electronic offender monitoring focuses on how the program operates and its effectiveness.
Abstract
New Jersey's Intensive Supervision Program (ISP) is technically not a probation program since participants are first sentenced to prison and must then apply for the ISP. Only persons convicted of nonviolent offenses with no prior history of violence and with a minor criminal history are eligible for the program. Participants must maintain full-time employment, do highly supervised community service, maintain a budget and diary, and pay regular bills and fines. To monitor curfews, the ISP currently uses two programmed contact systems: a Telsol calling machine that makes random calls to approximately 175 of the agency's 425 clients during curfew hours and a wristlet system in which the client wears a nonremovable wristlet that is inserted into a box attached to the offender's telephone upon command from the central computer. The ISP is achieving its goal of removing offenders from prison without increasing risk to the community. Although 1987 program costs were about $5,200 per client, the deduction of taxes paid on clients' earnings, restitution, fines paid, supervision cost payments, and the value of community service work, yield a net cost of approximately $1,700 per year per client.