Overview, Programs
The Electronic Monitoring Program has been working with the Denver Sheriff’s Department since 2002. Upon court approval the Sheriff’s Department can release inmates to the Electronic Monitoring Program for supervision of their sentence. The success rate of the initial program is over 92% and the employment rate of these inmates is 86%. Following this level of success, several other off-shoots of the program are now in effect, including, jail work release, jail work search, and remediation.
Sheriff Home Detention I & II
The original Sheriff Home Detention program allows the Sheriff’s Department to release inmates to the Electronic Monitoring Program. Inmates are then jailed in their homes and are allowed to work while under the supervision of electronic monitoring. This program utilizes several technologies including radio frequency, GPS, and continuous alcohol monitoring. The Sheriff’s Department and the Electronic Monitoring Program review the offender’s history and make a recommendation to the court on the appropriateness of electronic monitoring and the type of technology that should be utilized. To date the program has monitored 351 inmates with an 82% success rate and 74% of the inmates have been employed.
Jail Work Release
The Jail Work Release program was created to allow inmates to maintain their employment while serving their jail sentence. Offenders are released from the jail daily to work and then return to the jail at night. Currently this program utilizes GPS and continuous alcohol monitoring technology to monitor the inmates. By utilizing GPS and continuous alcohol monitoring, program staff are able to monitor the offender’s movement and sobriety.
Jail Work Search
The Jail Work Search program was created to allow inmates who might otherwise qualify for one of the other sheriff programs to be released from the jail to search for employment. The offender is allowed job search time and then returns to the jail nightly. Inmates are monitored with GPS and continuous alcohol monitoring. If the offender successfully finds employment they are then transferred to one of the other programs to complete their sentence.
Remediation
The Remediation program serves as a final effort by the sheriff, probation, and electronic monitoring to keep an offender in the community before a more severe sentence is imposed. The Remediation program was created in conjunction with probation to give the court an alternative sentencing option for probation revocation filings. Offenders are initially sentenced to a stay of 30 days in the Denver County Jail and are then placed on monitoring. The Sheriff’s Department then determines what type of monitoring technology is needed, the length of sentence, and whether the offender will be allowed to serve that sentence at home or will have to report back to the jail nightly. This program is designed to facilitate successful completion of probation terms that were not being met prior.
Benefits & Success
The Sheriff Home Detention program saves money and resources, and allows offenders to work while on the program. The program diverts nonviolent offenders from the Denver County Jail, reducing the number of beds needed and lowering taxpayer costs. In the past 3 years the Electronic Monitoring Program estimates it has saved the City of Denver $1,178,172 by transitioning 228 inmates from the jail to the community.