Judge Says Ankle Monitors Saved County Nearly $400,000 This Year
Are ankle monitors saving Scioto County a lot of money? Last week, we told you about a $31,000 bill for ankle monitoring and house arrest supervision for two months paid by County commissioners. At the time, Commissioner Powell said commissioners were in talks with judges to see if there wasn’t a way for defendants to pick up more of the tab.
Now, we’re sitting down with Judge Steven Mowery to discuss the issue and what can be done. According to Judge Steven Mowery, it’s complicated. “There’s a lot of layers to peel back.”
The judge said the talks were prompted, in part, by inquiries from SCDN about why courts weren’t collecting fees from defendants on house arrest. He said that while the fees for monitoring defendants may seem high, you have to compare it to what it would cost to keep a defendant in jail. Currently, the daily fees to keep a male inmate in the county jail is $65 a day, while the cost for a female prisoner is $75 a day.
Big Savings for County
“When we’re talking about putting people on house arrest from our perspective, we’re saving the county on a man, $14.50 a day versus $65 a day is a savings to the county of $50 a day. Because the people we put on house arrest are people that we would otherwise put in jail.” The judge said the $31,000 spent on house arrest actually ended up saving the county $100,000.
“From January 1 to August 31 of 2022, we had 7700 days of people on house arrest. At 14.50 a day, if it’s just $65 a day, we saved the county $393,000. We saved the county. That’s an incredible amount of money.”
The monitoring also has the ability to track defendants to see if they visit known drug locations or violate protection orders. “We put exclusion zones for domestic violence offenders so they aren’t where the victim is.”
He said ankle monitors are also used when the court determines that a crime may be drug-driven and the defendant is sent to rehab. He says if the defendant leaves rehab, the court is instantly aware of the violation. “We are helping the jail by releasing people to treatment on ankle monitors.”
Mowery pointed out that ankle monitors allow some individuals to keep their jobs and pay taxes instead of becoming a burden on taxpayers.
State Makes the Rules
The judge said that the emphasis on courts collecting fees from people on house arrests is misplaced. “Under the Ohio revised code, the county commissioners could contract with the sheriff and charge people that are actually jailed a fee.” He said he mentioned that to commissioners during their meeting on the subject. “What is the county doing to try to collect from people that are jailed?” His response was that a lot of those people are indigent. “Well, I bet 90 to 95% of the people we have in court are indigent. It’s very rare that we have people who are retaining their own attorneys.”
He said judges must also follow guidelines issued by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. “Our guidance is that we are required to use the least restrictive community control method and not put people in jail.” He said not following the guidelines puts state grant money in jeopardy. He said the last time the courts were audited by the state, they were told that they had fewer cases than fifteen years ago but more people going to jail. He said the state said, “That’s gotta stop, or we’re going to cut off your money.”
Judge Mowery said that house arrest is about the only alternative. He pointed out that if a defendant receives 18 days of house arrest as opposed to 5 days in jail, the county will save over $60 while complying with the state’s mandate for less restrictive control.
Judge Mowery says he believes it’s possible to collect fees from inmates housed in the county jail. “In 2015, the ACLU did a survey and found that there were 40 out 75 full-service jails charged a pay-to-stay fee or a booking fee.” He said that years ago, the Scioto County Jail charged a fee but stopped. “The thinking was that most of the people are indigent, and do we want to spend money trying to collect from people who are indigent? We’re in the same boat. We don’t have the ability to pursue people.”