SPANISH FORK — With a dark blue box strapped to an ankle, inmates of the Utah County Jail can now leave the jail and go home to a different kind of confinement than steel bars.
The Utah County Jail has 20 inmates on a new GPS ankle-monitoring system, a high-tech tracking device that jail officers say will save taxpayers money and free up jail beds.
The thick plastic box — about the size of two decks of cards — is fitted snugly to an inmate's ankle with a steel-enforced, fiber optic-equipped band.
The box has a GPS and mini-computer inside, giving jail officers real-time information about the inmate's location and the ability to track them electronically.
The overseeing officer creates "inclusion" or "exclusion" zones — areas where the individual can and cannot go. They can be as confining as 50 feet around the individual's home or as broad as the entire United States.
The Utah County Jail is the first jail in Utah to use the program.
Inmates wearing the ankle monitor are in the work-release program where they check into the jail each night to eat and sleep after working all day to support families, pay restitution or pay for therapy.
But in the past, when inmates left the jail, they essentially dropped off the radar until they returned.
"Before, when (an inmate) came to jail and went to work release, we never really knew if he was making a bee-line to work and back to jail," said Utah County Sheriff Sgt. Dennis Harris. "But now we know exactly what time he gets to work, we know every route he takes to go back home. It's even more confining than it was in the jail."
The new system, which the county jail started using Sept. 25, also prevents cheating during the work hours.
One employer took his friend and inmate employee golfing every Tuesday, yet reported the man was working, said Utah County Sheriff Sgt. Alan Lisonbee, who is in charge of the GPS system.
The jail previously used a radio-frequency ankle-monitoring system that would download a report of where the inmate had been during the day — but by then, any action was too late.
Now, if an inmate steps over a pre-set line, an alarm will go off and the monitor's speaker will crackle to life. An operator will ask what the inmate is doing, then pass along instructions from the jail, while phoning an officer. The inmate can also talk back to explain what's going on.
"We're going to be very firm with the consequences," said Utah County Sheriff's Capt. John Carlson. "If they don't follow the rules of the program, they're not going to survive on it. They'll end up doing their time in the county jail."
The new system will also save the county money, jail officials say.
Renting the ankle box with the corresponding 24/7 monitoring costs the jail $8 a day, as opposed to $52 for feeding and housing an inmate.
The inmates still work all day — paying their first two hours' wages back to the jail — but also foot the bill for their own food and housing.
Getting set up for the program meant buying two new patrol cars equipped with wireless Internet-ready laptops for the monitoring officers, one male sergeant and one female sergeant.
However, with inmates paying for the privilege of work release, the program should pay for itself within a couple of years, Harris said.
The monitoring system — Secure Alert of Sandy — is a better answer to the problem of overcrowded jails, officials believe, than building costly jail expansions — like the one going on at the jail right now.
The Utah company started out in the market of personal security devices for senior citizens. The "Mobile Pal" devices gave users the ability with the push of a button to reach a 24-hour call center if they fell or had other health problems.
But now the company has 3,500 units for law-enforcement use in states from California to Florida, said company president Randy Olshen.
Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy said he will not put sex offenders on the ankle bracelet nor those who have committed violent crimes. And the system will not replace surprise home visits by officers to make sure inmates are staying drug- and alcohol-free.
But for first-time offenders, the ankle bracelet allows them a chance at rebuilding their lives — if they comply. "If they don't perform, we'll put them back in the general population of the jail," Harris said. "This really gives them a great incentive to toe the line."
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