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Law allows defendants to be released, monitor
Published October 16, 2009
With rising inmate populations and shrinking budgets, officials are hoping recent electronic monitoring ankle bracelet legislation will help balance the equation.
House Bill 306, signed into law by Gov. Sonny Perdue in May and effective July 1, allows for certain defendants awaiting trial to be released with provider monitored electronic monitoring devices instead of taking up space in county jails pending a court date. Georgia Rep. Len Walker (R-Loganville), who proposed the legislation, said it was prompted in part because of the enormous cost to taxpayers for the housing of inmates in county jails.
“Typically, the cost for housing is between $35 to $45 per day,” Walker said, adding those costs can rise significantly if there is a major health problem. “With a cost of $7 to $10 a day for a monitor as opposed to $45 a day in the county jail, you can easily see how an effective GPS system can save counties millions of dollars.”
Officials say it also gives those defendants, such as non-payers of child support payments, an opportunity to maintain employment in an effort to comply with child support obligations and those with health concerns the opportunity to seek their own health care. Walker said the court has sole discretion on whether an inmate is suitable to be released on an electronic monitor.
“HB 306 also requires that the electronic monitoring provider act as surety for the bond,” Walker said. “This is a very important public safety policy feature. The monitoring provider has a strong incentive to assure accurate monitoring and also a strong incentive to immediately pursue any person who compromises the device.”
Loganville business owner Joe Ray and general manager Mike McNeal of Joe Ray Bonding, the company that first implemented the procedure as a provider on a trial basis, were on hand at the Capitol when the governor signed the legislation. Walker said the idea was presented to Judge John Ott of the Alcovy Judicial District in July last year and the judge agreed to try it on a limited basis.
“The trial period proved to be successful and since then it has saved the sheriff’s department quite a bit of money,” Walker said, emphasizing, however, the additional security provided by the GPS, the provider acting as surety for the bond and the discretion of the court in choosing who can be bonded this way.
“With these features in place we feel that some of the failures that have occurred recently — like in Fulton and DeKalb counties — will be less likely,” Walker said.
Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman confirmed the cost savings to his department have been substantial at $333,490 for the first 12 months.
“Typically we have about 40 inmates on ankle monitors at any given time and that is a substantial saving to the local taxpayer, especially if there is a health issue,” Chapman said, citing a case with a veteran suffering from leukemia who was picked up on a probation violation.
“We put him on a monitoring device and took him to the VA hospital,” Chapman said. “They put him in a hotel across the road where they can treat him for his leukemia without it costing our taxpayers.”
Chapman also emphasized these are low risk offenders and not anyone charged with a felony.
With Gwinnett County’s recent high-profile budgetary and tax woes, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter has gone on the offensive about just how damaging the suggested 9-percent budget cut would be to his department, particularly as it relates to the housing of dangerous inmates. While this monitoring system is not devised for dangerous inmates, officials believe its implementation could help ease some of the burden as it relates to other inmates, freeing up resources that way.
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