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House Arrest Is Touted as a Humane Punishment. It’s Not.
Electronic monitoring incarcerates people who might otherwise be on probation — and makes them pay for it themselves
“If I had just done time, I would’ve been done by now.”— Patricia, under house arrest in Indiana
The “crime” Patricia, mother of five, committed was an odd one: She climbed through her best friend’s window to retrieve a bottle of her own medication. She and her friend had “open-door policies” and visited each other’s Indiana homes daily, including when the other wasn’t present — but her friend’s husband was not on friendly terms with Patricia, and one day he called the cops on her. Though all theft and drug charges were dropped (since the medication she took was her own), Patricia retained a low-level “felony burglary” charge — she’d entered a home without the permission of the leaseholder. Her caseworker and everyone involved expressed complete faith that she would never do this again. Nevertheless, the prosecutor pursued the felony burglary charge, which carries a minimum of 10 years in prison. Her lawyer advised her to plead guilty to a lesser offense for five years under house arrest and another five years of probation. When she took the plea, the public defender…
