Jail overcrowding is a serious issue in the U.S., imprisoning more people than any other nation in the world. With 60% of jail inmates awaiting deposition and not actually serving time for a conviction, sheriffs programs that rely on alcohol monitoring technology to oversee clients in lieu of incarceration are becoming more prevalent throughout the states.
According to NHTSA, a person with one or more prior DUI/DWI offenses is 4.1x more likely to be involved in a fatal car crash, making repeat alcohol clients dangerous to a community. But, courts and agencies across the country are using alcohol monitoring technologies to create sustainable, outcome-driven programs to support long-term behavior change in repeat alcohol clients.
With the help of SCRAM Continuous Alcohol Monitoring® (SCRAM CAM®), SCRAM Remote Breath®, and a variety of other alcohol monitoring technologies, the San Joaquin DUI Monitoring Court (SJDMC) has reduced annual DUI arrests by 66% since 2008.
With nearly 105 participants at any given time, Cascade County’s drug treatment courts are the largest in Montana. Each has available to them SCRAM Systems’ alcohol and location monitoring technologies—SCRAM Continuous Alcohol Monitoring® (SCRAM CAM®), SCRAM Remote Breath®, and SCRAM GPS®—to ensure cooperation and true behavior change throughout the individual’s rehabilitative process.
Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the U.S. As a result, jail overcrowding has become a serious issue throughout the state, burdening local court systems and communities. But one parish is offering a solution—utilizing SCRAM Systems’ state-of-the-art alcohol monitoring technologies to focus on comprehensive rehabilitation as part of a pretrial diversion program.
Funding challenges are usually the main reason courts and jurisdictions hesitate to add intensive alcohol and location monitoring into their programs. However, daily monitoring fees are a fraction of the cost of incarceration and electronic monitoring can help improve program and client outcomes and save money over time.
On November 28, 2017, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued a new patent for SCRAM Remote Breath® that covers the process the device uses to verify a user’s image.
