My boyfriend was placed on GPS monitor (for house arrest) which was made by sentinel offender services. He paid many hundreds of dollars for this service, (the alternative was jail) and did not ever leave the house except for to go to work. The company accused him of leaving the house and had evidence of his GPS signal leaving our house. However during the time period when he allegedly left, I was there and know that he was home the whole time.
The company refused to give over the full electronic records to the court even after the judge's subpoena, They only gave over some of the evidence and since I know he was home the whole time I am sure that more evidence which they did not disclose would prove his innocence. Since he "did not comply" with the monitor company, the judge sentenced him to 60 days in jail, which would have been his original sentence even after he already completed the ankle monitor program.
The GPS signal obviously malfunctioned and it is a travesty of justice that he paid for the services and was then thrown in jail based on incomplete evidence. No one considering going on ankle monitor should ever do it with a GPS monitor manufactured by sentinel. Even though it was admitted by the company that sometimes metal buildings (we live in an RV) can interfere with the signal, the case manager still insisted that he was without a doubt guilty of a violation.
It is imperative that the validity of the GPS monitor as a method of monitoring should be verified by someone other than within the company that manufactures it. It is very unfortunate that this has occurred, because my boyfriend, through no fault of his own has now lost his job because of his being in jail. Our lawyer said that there is nothing more we can do, but I believe that justice can be served if someone is willing to go the distance and actually stand up for what is right.
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