Understanding GPS monitoring as an alternative to incarceration

If you plead guilty to or are convicted of a crime in South Carolina, you may be able to avoid spending time behind bars, even if that’s one of the possible sentences you could receive. One alternative is GPS monitoring.

Most people associate this with wearing an “ankle monitor” that tracks your location. Although this monitoring is sometimes part of what’s known as “house arrest,” people aren’t always confined to their home. They may be able to continue to work, go to school and/or take care of their family. It can benefit the community by helping jails and prisons with their overcrowding issues and allow people to continue being tax-paying residents.

If you want to seek GPS monitoring as an alternative to incarceration, it’s crucial to know what it involves and what restrictions will be placed on you. If you violate the terms of your monitoring, you could easily end up behind bars.

What kinds of restrictions do those wearing monitors have?

People who wear electronic monitors are tracked by the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services’ Intelligence Tracking and Communications (ITAC) Center 24 hours a day. Each person has an electronic perimeter in which they must remain. If they don’t, ITAC will be alerted immediately. Some people may also be assigned “exclusion zones” that they’re prohibited from entering. Again, ITAC will be alerted if someone enters one of these zones.

Some monitors are designed to detect alcohol consumption. Therefore, if one of the conditions of your electronic monitoring is abstaining from alcohol, you may be fitted with one of these monitors. Additional testing for drugs may also be a requirement of your GPS monitoring.

Electronic monitoring isn’t for everyone. However, if you want to mitigate the consequences of a mistake you have no intention of making again, it might be the best way to go about living your life. It’s important to understand the costs, inconveniences and requirements of this alternative before you agree to it. That’s just one reason why it’s wise to have experienced legal guidance.