D.A. candidate runs with electronic ankle bracelet

Most politicians struggle to carve out a little private time.

But for the next 30 days, Michael Untermeyer's life will be an open book, 24/7, to anyone with Internet access.

The Republican candidate for Philadelphia district attorney yesterday had himself equipped with an electronic ankle bracelet to demonstrate how city taxpayers could save millions in prison costs by making more use of monitoring technology for nonviolent criminal defendants.

"This will save the city millions and, more important, save lives," he told reporters as Tim Barttrum, a vice president for Sentinel Offender Services, tightened one of his company's bracelets around the candidate's left ankle.

Beginning today, visitors to www.UntermeyerForDA.com can connect to a map that will track his movements minute by minute.

Untermeyer's Democratic opponent, Seth Williams, was not impressed, calling Untermeyer's month of the bracelet a "gimmick."

"It's important to remember that the challenges facing the criminal-justice system in Philadelphia are complex. That means more than simply putting an ankle bracelet on someone," Williams said.

Still, even before Untermeyer's move, city prison officials were investigating using a GPS monitoring system like Sentinel's, calling it "a useful technology we would be foolish to ignore."

Like a motorist's GPS directional unit, the bracelet tracks movement. If the wearer goes outside a programmed perimeter, an alarm sounds. A court monitor can call the tracking unit's cell-phone component to tell the wearer he or she is busted.

If the wearer cuts off the unit, a circuit is broken and generates an alarm.

"If I'm late for a campaign appearance," Untermeyer said, "you'll know exactly where I am."

Fortunately for Untermeyer, Barttrum said, the units are sealed and waterproof - sponge baths not required.

Beyond some campaign publicity, Untermeyer said, the demonstration's point is to show how Philadelphia can use electronic monitoring to track criminal defendants instead of paying to keep them behind bars.

The city has about 750 to 800 people awaiting trial on electronic monitoring. Untermeyer said the city could easily put 1,000 additional incarcerated individuals on the street or under house arrest using electronic monitoring.

Each person in prison costs city taxpayers about $97 a day, Philadelphia court administrator David C. Lawrence said.

City prisons house about 9,500 and are over capacity. At City Council budget hearings in April, prison officials predicted a jail population of 10,000 within months at a cost of about $250 million for the next fiscal year.

Sentinel's systems cost $2.50 to $8 a day per inmate, depending on the level of monitoring, Barttrum said.

Some people wear the bracelets to comply with house arrest, he said. Others, such as sex offenders, require complex mapping programs to ensure they stay away from schools and playgrounds.

Untermeyer said the daily cost could be two or three times Sentinel's cost and still be a bargain. Too many people are in prison for nonviolent crimes or drug offenses or are too poor to afford bail, he added.

The city's latest prison report says that 63 percent of those incarcerated are awaiting trial and that 500 are being held because they cannot afford to post 10 percent of bail of $5,000 or less. A third of all inmates are in prison for drug-related offenses, and many fall into that low-bail group, the report stated.

Though cheaper than prison, electronic monitoring is not cost-free - a crucial issue for a city and a court system in a financial crisis.

"Right now, I wouldn't be able to deal with any larger numbers without more personnel," Lawrence said of electronic monitoring.

Running the 750 to 800 units now in use costs about $900,000 a year, he said. The city buys them from security company BI Inc. at $1,326 each, he said.

Lawrence said the courts spend $300,000 in salaries for about 12 full- and part-time clerical workers for the program, about $400,000 in salary hours for 57 warrant investigators who spend about 20 percent of their time monitoring defendants or pursuing violators, and $100,000 a year for maintenance.

Untermeyer said he believed more use of electronic monitoring should be part of a wholesale review of the bail system, including letting bail-bond agencies again work in Philadelphia instead of letting people post 10 percent to get out.

"We need to get out of the bail-bond business," he said. "Right now the city is owed $1 billion by people who failed to appear for court hearings."