Competing systems are more limited, covering about 12 hours a day and sounding an alarm if an offender leaves a house. Once the offender leaves, however, he can't be tracked. With the new system, he can. The program began a little more than a month ago and is starting slowly, monitoring a handful of offenders in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. Their convictions were for possession of cocaine, attempted arson, lewd and lascivious act and forgery, according to Department of Corrections officials.
Officials plan to add more and riskier offenders within a month.
Despite this year's public and political uproar over the early release of inmates because of prison overcrowding, Nimer said plans for this system have been in the works since last year. According to an analysis started in 1993, Nimer said, offenders under electronic monitoring were less likely to have their house arrest revoked, more likely to have a normal termination of their sentence, less likely to commit new crimes and less likely to flee. With 14,000 people under house arrest in the state, improvements could benefit taxpayers through less crime and fewer people in prison. We provide 24-hour continuous monitoring of offenders. The system can pinpoint within a few feet where an offender is allowed to go.