Electronic Monitoring Is an Extension of Mass Incarceration

Source: vera.org 1/30/24

Craig Caudill had a plan for life after his release from prison. While incarcerated, he completed a commercial driver’s license truck driving program in Huntsville, Texas. He was even entrusted to drive trucks for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison system after completing the program, transporting cotton across the state. Working as a truck driver seemed like a solid option after his release in 2021. He knew there was a demand for truck drivers and that the work paid well.

But four days before his release date, Caudill found out that he would be confined to his home for 18 months while on parole, with few exceptions. He would be required to wear a GPS ankle monitor, which would track his location and movements down to the minute. Caudill said it felt like everything he’d been working toward was taken away. Finding a truck driving job would be impossible.

“Now I have to come up with something else, and I have to do it while stuck in my house without the ability to move around,” said Caudill. “It didn’t make any sense to me.”

While on electronic monitoring, Caudill was required to submit his proposed schedule to his parole officer for approval every two weeks. He was permitted to go grocery shopping for only one hour once per week. He could go to doctor’s appointments and job interviews, provided he submitted a request at least a week in advance and received approval.

“If a job calls you and says, ‘We’d like to see you tomorrow, come in and talk to us,’ you can’t,” he said.

The requirements were so restrictive that Caudill felt like he had less freedom than he did while incarcerated, when he was trusted to drive across Texas. He was in a constant state of anxiety, fearing that an unforeseen situation could trigger an alarm that would land him back in prison.

“If they give me one hour to go to the grocery store, and I get stuck in traffic and can’t move, it doesn’t matter,” said Caudill. If he arrived home a minute past the hour, his parole officer could be notified.

“It’s so destructive, psychologically,” he said.

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In California everyone on parole has to wear GPS tracking devices and attend sexual treatment classes, and after that they have to serve another 3 years on parole and after that 7 or 17 years on the registry, so it’s a long road of continuous punishment.

He would have been better off maxing out than taking parole. Seems like the only one benefiting from parole was the state.

This probably violates the Eight Amendment of Cruel and Unusual Punishment WRT the restrictions placed on the wearer without any leeway to understand it further on the technological and logistical issues presented when trying to reintegrate back into society. One can be monitored via a unit and not have to be confined as this gent was, which defeats the purpose of the monitor in the first place beyond just making sure they are home as needed by the rules. They are placing the cost of the three hots and a cot on the person who lives in the comfort of their own abode until it drives one nuts being there for so long and not being able to go anywhere.

“He was even entrusted to drive trucks for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison system after completing the program, transporting cotton across the state.” If that doesn’t sound like some new age slavery business, I dont know what does……