Scott County Commission discusses use of monitoring bracelets for house arrest

BENTON, Mo. -- If state officials really want to save money, maybe they should look into electronic monitoring bracelets for prisoners, Scott County commissioners say.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter updated commissioners during their Tuesday meeting on the first Scott County inmate placed on house arrest using the technology.

"It's working out pretty good," Walter said. "This guy was a pretty good candidate, so we got authorization from the judge."

If approved by the judge, inmates being held on a county charge or conviction can opt for house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet at cost of $10 per day to the inmate.

"They pay for it," Walter said. "If they quit paying, it's over and he's back in jail -- or if he breaks any of the rules."

The parameters of the house arrest are set by the judge and programmed into the bracelet by the sheriff's office. The bracelet vendor's command center is used to track compliance with the parameters. The inmate must also put a deposit down to cover the cost of the bracelet if it is damaged.

The house arrest program provides savings for the county as the cost for the county to house a prisoner in the county jail is roughly $35 per day, according to Walter.

As the state has been trimming millions of dollars from its expenditures in the Department of Corrections by shifting costs back to the counties in the form of reduced reimbursements, down to $19.58 per day from $22, the county commission has tried to convince the state legislature to look into trying the electronic monitoring bracelets for some state prisoners.

"We've called and asked them and asked them to look into the shackles," Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn said. "I can't believe it's not a priority right now. If they're going to put this burden on us they need to help us out somewhat."

While it is ultimately up to the judge to determine eligibility, significant savings could be made on those prisoners who are approved.

"Nobody wants to talk about letting violent criminals out," Ziegenhorn said.

When a suspect facing a state charge is not convicted, the county receives no reimbursement at all for holding them, Ziegenhorn noted.

"But if the state would authorize paying for shackles instead of $19.58, that would be a lot of savings to them if the person is convicted," he said. "We'd just want them to reimburse us whatever the shackle cost would be. It would be a whole lot less than the $19.58."

With a nonviolent offender, "their mom and dad or their wife could be watching them and feeding them instead of the county," Ziegenhorn said.