Crypto Currency News

Trending News

Bitcoin
$70,012.82
-782.23
Ethereum
$3,542.38
-31.45
Litecoin
$102.97
+7.71
DigitalCash
$39.78
+1.35
Monero
$134.78
-2.36
Nxt
$0.00
0
Ethereum Classic
$34.38
+2.15
Dogecoin
$0.21
-0

No swimming, constant monitoring and a big sock. What life on a tether is really like

SAGINAW, MI — Donnie Wooten awoke to the sound of police barking orders to get on the ground in the early morning hours last November. He was at a relative’s home in Saginaw, where he was living on and off, and police were searching for someone who wasn’t there.

They did find marijuana in the residence, which violated the terms of Wooten’s parole.

After spending a week in jail, Wooten reported to his parole officer, who placed an electronic monitoring tether on Wooten’s ankle. For three months, he wore it day and night.

“It was heavy, like an ankle weight,” Wooten said. “It was hard to wear boots with it. I used to hide it by wearing a big sock over it to keep it in place and then cover it with my pants.”

Daily routines changed as Wooten adjusted to life with the “ankle bracelet.”

“I could not ever take baths and I hated it,” he said, adding he showered instead. “You couldn’t soak it under water.”

The tether Wooten was assigned to be manually charged daily. He said he usually tried to charge it while he was sleeping but, if he didn’t sleep carefully, the device would detach from the charger. If it wasn’t charged, the device would die, causing it to show Wooten was out of range – a violation.

“Sometimes I would be out and about and it would die, so I would get in trouble with my (parole officer),” Wooten said. “It vibrates when you are out of range and when the battery is low.”

Around the clock monitoring

There are different kinds of tethers, including those that monitor a person’s location and those that monitor them for things like alcohol use. Two of them are through the Michigan Department of Corrections and the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Department oversees two additional programs in Saginaw County.

Saginaw County has a pretrial tether program, or Monitor On Release, which tracks those on bond who haven’t been sentenced yet. There also is the PLUS, or Prisoner Leave Under Surveillance, tether which monitors offenders already sentenced.

PLUS Director Sandra Cain monitors the daily whereabouts of more than 60 people on tethers throughout the county.

Cain said she explains the rules of the tether to recipients while placing the unit on their leg. They get the preference of placing the tether’s “box” to the inside or outside of their ankle.

“The unit is water resistant but not waterproof,” Cain said. “You can shower but not bathe. You can’t go swimming.”

A damaged unit costs $1,200 and anyone who cuts it off or removes it without permission faces a felony charge, Cain said.

Tethers allow out time for work, school, counseling and doctor appointments. Participants must also have a stable place to live.

The wearer covers the cost of the tether.

“It’s really hard when you are on that tether and you have to pay $77 a week because some people are not even making enough money to take care of themselves,” Wooten said, acknowledging he still owes about $1,000 on his tether bill.

“I was paying someone money to live with them and taking care of a car that is constantly breaking down, but you need (the car) for work,” he said.

Freedom from tether

Wooten said while on tether, he sometimes found it difficult to be compliant.

“I had to keep switching my tether (location) to different friends’ and family houses,” said Wooten, 25, who was struggling to find housing after being paroled in April 2018. He had served jail time for felonious assault and felony firearm.

“I was damned near homeless,” Wooten said. “I had to keep switching my tether to different friend’s and families’ homes.”

Wooten also had the pressure of maintaining employment and paying for the tether, both of which could prevent a satisfactory discharge from parole.

Wooten said he let some jobs go because of scheduling times. He was initially only allowed out time from 8 am to 8 pm, and anything after that required advance approval. Wooten said that he didn’t tell some employers he was on a monitoring device because he feared they would not hire him or restrict him from being considered for certain jobs.

Wooten said he did manage to land a job a few days after being placed on tether.

Wooten said the tether kept him focused on trying to make a living because the only other option was jail. He does feel there should be help for those who are on tether but can’t afford it.

“I think there should be something like community service or something people can do to be able to pay that tether bill and keep from going back to jail or resort back to hustling in the streets,” he said.

Wooten is days away from finishing slogan. He said the process has helped him focus more on the things he needs in order to be a productive person.

“By the grace of God, I made it off tether,” Wooten said.

Comments are closed.