Electronic alternatives to incarceration

Getting tough on crime is a popular campaign issue, drawing votes from people who have been victimized, or who don't like the way they see the country going.

The "War on Drugs," plus mandatory minimums and other resulting laws have helped put more Americans per capita behind bars than any other developed nation.

The Work Camp movement of a few years ago sought to put the emphasis on rehabilitation instead of incarceration, but McCook's Work Ethic Camp has been forced to become more or less just another branch of Nebraska's over crowded prison system.

Some would blame marijuana laws, which send people to Nebraska jail for what would be legitimate business activities across the border in Colorado. That certainly should be part of the discussion.

While their creative interpretation of sentencing laws helped ease overcrowding somewhat, it also landed previous Nebraska prison officials in hot water.

But releasing prisoners puts more pressure on an already overworked probation system, as understaffed workers attempt to keep track of probationers notorious for violating terms of their release.

Prison overcrowding is one issue that has brought people from the left and right of the political spectrum together to find solutions. Last week, former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich and a top Koch Industries executive from the right joined the Center for American Progress and the ACLU from the left at a bipartisan criminal justice summit in Washington to work toward avoiding incarceration for nonviolent offenders.

One increasingly viable alternative is the use of ankle bracelets and GPS devices to keep track of people who would otherwise be confined.

The devices allow them to participate in work release programs that allow them to have jobs, visit family and shop while obeying time and geographic restrictions. Electronic devices could make it possible for officers to make sure offenders stay away from potential sexual assault victims or bars and liquor stores as part of their condition of release.

One company which offers the devices estimates that electronic monitoring reduces incarceration costs from $70-80 a day to an optimistic $4-9 a day.

Be that as it may, it seems likely that increased use of electronic monitoring can result in lower costs and less prison crowding.

Civil libertarians, of course, worry about increased monitoring by "Big Brother," but if the alternative is jail time, most offenders would take the ankle bracelet in a heart beat.