Home Detention

Part of my sentence was 24 days Home Detention.  This began the Monday after I was released from Tent City.  The organization that conducted my home detention was CHC (Correctional Healthcare Companies) Community Health Services.

The Home Monitoring consists of two major components:

1. An ankle bracelet that serves as a GPS, so that the CHC knows where I am and when.
2. A home breathalyzer that sounds off randomly, alerting me to blow into it to test my BAC.

I'll start with the first element:

The Ankle Bracelet

So basically, when I went in for my first meeting with the CHC, I gave them my work schedule.  I told them it takes me 45 minutes to drive to and from work, so they allowed me an hour each way.  When I am at work at have to STAY at work.  I was not allowed to go out for lunch or anything.  When I am supposed to be at home I have to STAY at home.  I was not allowed to walk the dog, or even check the mail- I needed to be inside the house.  I was allowed 4 hours a week of "errand" time.  This needs to be scheduled with CHC, and includes drive time.  My errand time had to be done with by 7pm.  I was also allowed to attend any court required classes, such as alcohol classes or Traffic Survival School.  But again, it had to be scheduled with them.  Once a week I had to go in to confirm the next week's schedule, pay my weekly dues ($101) and have my ankle device checked to make sure it was still on and functioning properly.

The ankle device needed to be charged about every 18-24 hours and it takes about an hour to charge.  There is a little blinking light on the side that turns red when it is really low.  Don't let it get too low because it will start beeping.  It's loud and annoying and if you are some place like work and trying to hide your ankle bracelet- it's really embarrassing (yes, this happened to me.  Everyone was trying to figure out where the beeping was coming from and I was just like, "I don't know!".  Awkward.).  There is a cord that will come with the bracelet that plugs into the wall- it charges similarly to a cell phone and will make a beeping noise and say, "Battery charged" out loud when it is done charging.

I put a sweatband under the bracelet because it is really uncomfortable on my ankle and I was getting a bruise.

The bracelet is water resistant, but not water proof- so you can take a shower, but the device can't be submerged (e.g. bath or pool).

Like I said, I was trying to conceal the ankle bracelet while at work, so I had to wear wide leg/ boot cut pants to work for the 24 days.  The device is far too chunky to wear under boots.  I even had to be careful with some maxi skirts- they had to be really long and flowy in order to now show the bracelet.

The Home Breathalyzer

Also known as the "Sobrietor" (catchy name, right?).  This is a device that checks whether I have consumed any alcohol.  The consumption of alcohol is strictly forbidden while in the home detention program.  So what happens is about 2-3 times a day (always while you are scheduled to be at home), the Sobrietor will make a loud siren-type sound.  I had to pick it up and hold it against my face.  Then I had to put it down and go rinse my mouth out (I guess they do this in case you were in the middle of eating when the thing goes off).  After about three minutes, the Sobrietor would make a long flat tone, then I would pick it up again and begin the voice recognition portion of the test.  I needed to repeat the words, "America", "Red", and "Eagle".  After completing this the machine would ask me to Inhale, then Blow.  The machine would then say, "Stop", and the test is done.  

This machine requires a home land-line that is reserved JUST for it. So if you already have a home land line, you will need to get another one, or start using your current one JUST for this thing.  If you don't have a home land-line, you need to get one.  But they are only like $10 a month from COX.

The Sobrietor is easy to use, but a huge pain in the butt.  Most mornings it went off while I was either about to get in the shower, in the shower, or had JUST gotten out of the shower and was still drying off.  During these times I usually didn't hear it and my husband had to come tell me it was going off.  I honestly don't know what I would do if I lived alone.  The CHC requires that the device be connected through your modem, and ours is in our office- so I couldn't move the device closer to the bedroom.  Also, the device does not have a volume adjuster- so the volume it's at is all you get.  My suggestion is to keep your doors throughout your house open so you can better hear it.

Exactly WHEN the Sobrietor goes off while you're home is a crap-shoot.  It would typically go off once in the morning before I left for work, but sometimes it wouldn't go off at all.  A few times in went off twice.  As for the evenings, it would usually go off twice; however a few times it didn't go off at all in the evening.  The latest at night it ever went off was 11:30pm.  That was a bummer, as I was already sleeping.  But it never went off at some ridiculous time like 3am or something- so I don't think that's something to worry about.

From what I was told at the CHC, this Sobrietor is incredibly sensitive, even certain mouthwashes can be detected as alcohol and register you positive.  The Home Detention program is an alternative to jail time- so if you violate this program, they'll send you back to Tent City to complete the rest of your 30 days.  It's not at all worth it to risk it.  Just go the 24 days without drinking and celebrate with a big glass of wine (or beer, or gin, or whatever your poison is) when it's done.

Anyhow, that's pretty much it!

This went on for 24 days, then I packed the thing up and took it back to the CHC, and they took my ankle bracelet off for me.