Marion County Monitoring “Crisis”
Unpaid bills and stolen equipment have put a serious crimp in offender monitoring activities in Marion County IN.
Marion County judges have been told to stop putting offenders into a community corrections alcohol-monitoring program, in part because more than 180 of the county’s leased monitoring devices are missing or damaged. Also a factor in halting the program: A vendor stopped supplying devices to the county community corrections agency because the agency hasn’t paid its bill for at least three months — a symptom of the county’s failure to collect fees from the most of the offenders who wore them last year. The uncollected 2007 fees and the cost of the damaged and lost equipment represent a $3.4 million loss for the community corrections agency … The agency also monitors about 250 home detainees with Global Positioning System devices. About 80 such devices are missing or damaged.
There is more on this story at The Indy Channel.