Home Detention Monitoring

Whatever the reason may be, whether consensual or court-ordered, an individual may require monitoring while under home detention. In the case of the court system, a judge may order home monitoring to allow the individual to avoid jail time and serve out their sentence in the comfort of their home. In other instances, the individual may be monitored as a means of protection via a security company.

What Is Home Detention?

Depending on the law enforcement agency, be it federal, state, or local, or if a private firm is hired, a variety of terms are used, such as house arrest, home detention, or even home confinement. All of these terms reference the same meaning that the program provides the monitoring of an individual in their home under specific restrictions and usually only differ in context depending on the jurisdiction.
For the sake of this article, we are choosing to use the term home detention. With home detention, the individual will typically wear a tracking device, such as an ankle bracelet, and will be required, for whatever reason, to remain in their home. In the case of a legal defendant, certain exceptions may be made that would allow the individual to leave the premises, such as to go to work or to attend a medical appointment. Via an electronic ankle bracelet, authorities or security personnel will be able to monitor and locate the individual at any given time.

Can An Individual Request Home Detention?

Although most jurisdictions do have and allow home detention, some don’t. It all comes down to the funding available for the local government and the cost of private monitoring. Yet other jurisdictions will limit how and to what extent home detention can be used and may charge the individual for the fees levied by the private monitoring service. Reaching out to a legal attorney can provide insight into what your local area does and does not allow.

Who Is Eligible?

The laws will vary from state to state and from the state to the federal level. For the most part, most defendants are able to participate in home detention programs, as well as those private citizens feel they need the extra added protection that private monitoring can provide. Those confinements that are legally related are only available to individuals who have misdemeanors and felonies that are deemed non-violent, have had no previous history related to violate crimes, and have not violated previous home confinement. The state is the one that puts the regulations and laws on their citizens regarding the ability to request home detention.

Rules And Costs

Although most home detention cases are based on the legal system, private monitoring can often follow the same rules and conditions. Those typical are seen as:
– Set hours when you must be at the residence – in the form of a curfew.
– Restrictions will be placed pertaining to when you are permitted to leave the residence and why, such as for work, medical, or legal appointments.
– There may be a requirement to have a landline phone, along with voice recognition software, that will allow authorities, or private monitoring, to know that you are at the residence.
– In the case of legal home detention, you will be required to submit to drug and alcohol testing regularly.

Types of Monitoring Devices

When under home detention, whether legally bound or self-determined, you will most often be required to wear one of three different types of monitoring devices—an ankle bracelet, an electronic shackle, or a tether. The monitoring technology involved usually includes one of the following:
– A transmitter that operates on a radio frequency will alert any authorities or private security personnel when it detects that you have left your residence.
– A Global Positioning System (GPS) sends a signal, usually by cell towers, and allows authorities and private security personnel to track your whereabouts, location, and movements.
When considering personal protection options, although home detention and the monitoring that goes with it is usually thought of in terms of criminals, it can be of significant use in the private sector as well. The same principles, laws, and rules apply to the legal version, with the significant difference being that the monitoring is being performed by a private security firm, such as Global Security.