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Ed Yeates ReportingEvery hour, regardless of location, a new hi-tech bracelet worn around the ankle catches and reports people when they drink and shouldn’t. Some Utah courts are now giving DUI offenders the option to wear the bracelet instead of going to jail.
Forty one percent of all fatal accidents still involve alcohol. That's why courts and government agencies are looking for new ways to track sentenced offenders to make sure they stay sober.
"Joe," as we'll call him to protect his identity, is wearing a new piece of technology around his leg. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, the bracelet makes it impossible to drink without being caught.
Larry Haefeli, Salt Lake County Division of Substance Abuse: "This continuous capability of monitoring blood alcohol content helps case management. It helps probation officers and private agencies that monitor these individuals to make them accountable."
Following a bad accident Utah courts gave Joe the option to wear the bracelet or go to jail.
Joe: “I drank way too much one night and I drove over a retaining wall on the freeway and ended up on the wrong side of the road. I needed to change my life and I knew it."
The Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor - or SCRAM for short - accurately detects blood alcohol through sweat released on sensors. The bracelet has to fit very close against the skin around the leg. And once attached, the user cannot tamper with it. It cannot be removed for at least 90 days.
With conventional at home monitors, a user could simply stay away from home and drink - then return after the alcohol has worn off. But with the new device…
John Bradley, 24 Hour Tracking Inc.: "As soon as they walk through that door, it transmits the data to show when they started drinking, when they finished drinking, and how much they drank."
The bracelet costs Joe about $300 a month, but compared to the $75 dollars per day he spent to drink - NO question, he says, why he took the courts up on this offer. Joe's still working, still has his kids, and more!
Joe: “Keep my life. Stay alive because alcohol was obviously killing me.”
Joe's bracelet has been on now for 120 days, but next month it comes off - his sentence fulfilled.
