Monitoring Devices Save County Money
Wayne County NC approved the expansion of electronic monitoring devices earlier this month. The first new batch are already in use, according to the Goldsboro News-Argus.
The use of the devices, which has to be ordered by a judge, allows the county to monitor people in pre-trial and those who have been sentenced to save money and reduce the strain on a chronically overcrowded jail. The program doesn’t mean the county will not have to build a new jail, but it could help lessen the scope and cost of building, County Manager Lee Smith has said. Smith has estimated that a new 500-bed facility would cost the county $53 million.
Commissioners on Feb. 17 appropriated $16,535 to expand the electronic monitoring program [from 15 to 40 units] …
Most pre-trial defendants are with the program for about seven months. It costs the county $840 monthly to electronically monitor someone as opposed to $9,450 to keep a person in jail — a cost that does not include medical bills. Since July 1, the program has saved county taxpayers $600,000, she said. “The taxpayers have not had to pay to have them be in jail,” Ms. Barratt said in an interview. She called the $16,535 “a drop in the bucket” compared to the savings realized by the county. For every $1 the county puts into electronic monitoring, it gets $4 back, she said.