When an individual is detained and awaiting trial, they are offered, at the court’s discretion, the opportunity to participate in GPS Monitoring or Home Detention. This measure was designed to reduce the reliance on cash bail and the number of incarcerated persons awaiting trial during a global health pandemic. Unfortunately, private companies charge defendants hundreds of dollars a month for the surveillance devices. When a defendant can’t afford the expense and defaults on payment, they are incarcerated and saddled with crushing debt. This reinforces the current two-tier justice system where the rich are treated better than the poor.

Senate Bill 23 and House Bill 316 require indigency (i.e. income-status) determinations when requiring home detention in pretrial and require the state to cover monitoring costs for indigent (low-income) pretrial defendants.