New Anklet Monitor Saves Prison Time & Money, But Creates Privacy Concerns
A new monitoring device worn around an offender’s ankle saves prison time and costs by allowing individuals with alcohol-abuse issues to live in their own homes. The cost is only $12 a day—and can be paid by the wearer—compared to perhaps $150 a day for a jail cell.
But the SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor) anklet also monitors—and reports to the government—an offender’s physical condition on a 24/7 basis, raising privacy issues, reports the Washington Post. By monitoring the wearer’s perspiration, the biometric device can detect alcohol consumption and send an electronic alert to authorities.
A new version of the anklet due to come out soon will also include GPS monitoring, so authorities know where to find the offender, too.
“We are at a point where no one could have even imagined 15 years ago,” professor Arthur Lurigio tells the newspaper. He teaches psychology and criminal justice at Loyola University in Chicago.
Although the monitoring anklet has been in use less than a decade, some 15,000 of the SCRAM anklets are now deployed in 46 states, the Post reports.
Earlier related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Teen’s Hairspray Set Off Alcohol Monitor, Judge Says”
Corrected on Sept. 28 to reflect that Lurigio’s first name is Arthur.
