Commissioners gave the go-ahead for Mike Welling, director of the county’s pre-trial bonding program, to lease 10 of the units in hopes of staving off ongoing problems centered around female offenders.
“Other counties simply won’t take these females because they are pregnant or have medical problems, and it’s allowing them to just snub their nose at us,” said County Judge Mark Barr. “They look at me and just laugh because they know we can’t send them to jail and this has got to stop.
“We’ve talked to other counties that use the ankle monitors and they are having a great deal of success with them. I think it would be irresponsible for us not to consider something like this.”
According to Welling, the ankle monitors are extremely accurate.
“These monitors ping off every 60 seconds, so we know where these people are every minute,” said Welling. “I’m told they are so accurate they can tell you if the person even steps outside their door or travels down a road that’s not authorized. This way, we can keep them in the community, working, instead of in the jail costing the county $45 a day.
“Is this an absolute answer to our problems? No. But it’s a tool. It’s a very efficient tool.”
The cost of each ankle bracelet is $1,500, according to Welling, but leasing the units can help ease the cost to the county.
“If a unit is destroyed, it costs $1,500 to replace,” Welling told the court. “However, that’s a cost that would be charged back to the person who destroyed it. With this lease program, it would cost us $5 to $10 a day, per unit. There are some other costs we may see down the road, such as a new laptop to monitor them, but that’s something we can look at later.
“There’s a 10-day set up period, and after that, the county will be charged per day for each unit, whether it’s on a prisoner or sitting on the shelf. I think 10 units is a good way to start and if we need more later, we can always get more.”
The pre-trial bonding program offers low interest bonding to county jail inmates awaiting trial for non-violent offenses and are unable to bond out using a commercial agency.
Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at
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