Staff recommends randomized pilot for expanded electronic monitoring; director warns of vendor failures and overtime costs

Commission staff presented an evaluation of electronic monitoring and mandatory supervised release, recommending a randomized controlled pilot to test expansion across targeted populations before any broad rollout. The presenter said the evaluation shows differing effects across populations and called for monetizing benefits — including avoided prison days — to calculate return on investment: "The best approach would actually be to develop a randomized control pilot to run where you could actually test and see what the effect is across those populations," the presenter said.

Director Ward, who answered members’ operational questions, described the current contracting approach and argued the jurisdiction should supervise violations directly rather than hand enforcement to private vendors. "We lease that equipment every year," Ward said, adding that enforcement is kept in-house to ensure timely response after monitoring violations. Ward urged caution on relying on vendors, citing a case in Mobile in which a private company failed to notify local authorities after a monitor was cut and a homicide followed. Ward also noted the real budget pressure: enforcement requires overtime for officers who must respond outside regular hours.

The committee discussed costs and metrics at length. Members asked for more precise marginal-cost figures for incarceration versus the gross per-day costs staff cited — historically "north of $80 a day" and, staff said, likely over $100 now — and staff noted the need to use a 36-month recidivism metric to get a full picture. Staff cautioned that, while monitoring works well for some groups (probationers), expanding supervision without targeting could be a budget buster and could produce unintended effects for low-level offenders.

The article draws on the presenter’s recommendation for a pilot and Ward’s operational testimony. It notes the commission’s request for further analysis before legislative expansion and that staff identified specific populations and metrics to guide targeted expansion.