ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607150100
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MANASSAS
Ankle bracelets containing a radio transmitter are keeping some teen-ager out of jail, helping to solve crowding at the Prince William County Juvenile Detention Home.
Since April, the ankle transmitters have monitored 10 juvenile offenders confined to their homes, said Wayne Maffett, the county's director of residential services.
``If used to capacity, electronic monitoring has the potential of reducing the average daily population in the home by five youths a day,'' he said.
The facility, built to house 15 juveniles in 1979, averaged 36 youths a day in 1995.
The county leased five of the electronic monitors for $10,000. Those sentenced to home detention must remain within 150 yards of a second monitoring device in the home.
If they stray farther than 150 yards, the signal from the ankle transmitter cannot be picked up by the house monitor.
That monitor, attached to a telephone, automatically calls police if it loses contact with the ankle transmitter.
Those chosen for the program are nonviolent offenders who are not considered an escape risk, officials said.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 34 linesby CNB