House Arrest

The confinement or detention of a person to his or her home, abode or place of living is known as house arrest. Such confinement is done by authorities with the legal mandate to do so. A person under house arrest is disallowed to travel and is under constrained movement within a prescribed locale. This measure is usually taken in lieu of detention. House arrest is often used on offenders who are in remand awaiting trial or are on probation.
A person under house arrest is allowed minimal freedoms and this varies from authority to authority and also according to the severity of the crime. Such confinement may vary from a simple curfew which restricts movement after certain hours, to incarceration whereby one is permanently constrained to his living quarters.
The rationale behind house arrest is so as to reduce crowding in prisons and to offer a softer alternative to one spending time in prison cells. Offenders are usually put under constant monitoring. The confinement applied is hardly ever permanent, and those under scrutiny are allowed exits from their residences for a given set of reasons. One may be permitted to leave so as to see a doctor, attend worship centers, or to see the probation authorities. Restrictions are made to the number of visitors allowed to see an offender.
The enforcement of house arrest in many countries is done through the use of technology. A common device is an electronic gadget fixed to the ankle of the offender. This is known as an ankle monitor. The device monitors the offender's movement away from his residence. If the person under house arrest moves beyond the prescribed environment, the movement is recorded and the authorities are alerted. This device uses Global Positioning System or "GPS" in short. The GPS is a spatial system that gives information on location and time on any place on the earth's surface. The ankle monitors are also designed to alert the authorities of any attempts at removal. Various ankle monitors used as tracking devices for house arrest function differently. Some are known as active bracelets. This kind of trackers work in real time and the data is sent to authorities immediately. Some are known as passive monitors. This kind works by recording the movement of the person under house arrest and the data is logged and is retrievable at the end of the day.
Another type of monitoring device used for persons under house arrest is the alcohol monitor. This one senses house arrest victims' alcohol consumption levels. When one consumes alcohol or other drugs, the body system metabolizes, or breaks down, the chemicals contained in the alcohol or other drug. The presence of alcohol may be detected through body fluids such as blood, urine and sweat or through breath. Some of the alcohol consumed diffuses through the skin. The sensor is able to detect the chemicals that are emitted across the skin and these are measured as per a pre-determined datum level for the offender. If this datum is exceeded by the person under house arrest, the concerned authorities are alerted.