Convicts Can Skip Jail, But Not Satellite
Florida’s Citrus County jail plans to implement an offender tracking system after receiving approval from county officials. The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office intends to use ankle location-tracking devices on just 10 inmates initially, but hopes to expand the program to an additional 50 inmates after three months.
Nonviolent offenders with domestic residences in the area are likely candidates for the program, which aims to decease the jail population and improve law enforcement response.
The Corrections Corp. of America manages the jail and receives a fee of $49 per day for each prisoner held. The tracking system provides substantial savings given its initial daily cost of only $9 per inmate, which will eventually drop to $6.
Citrus County inmates account for the 320 of the jail’s 400 bed capacity. The device tracks offenders to ensure they do not violate their location restrictions.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the St. Petersburg Times (FL) (04/23/03) P. 1; Gonzales, Suzannah.
