For Cook County residents under electronic monitoring, false alarms can be a daily nightmare

People wearing ankle monitors are falsely accused of breaking house arrest when the devices can’t connect to WiFi or the GPS system fails.

By Char Daston
electronic monitoring
This Monday, July 23, 2018, file photo show an electronic monitor. The Illinois Department of Corrections is using electronic monitors to track about 2,800 people, but a new report says there’s little evidence to show that it increases public safety. Eric Gay / Associated Press
electronic monitoring
This Monday, July 23, 2018, file photo show an electronic monitor. The Illinois Department of Corrections is using electronic monitors to track about 2,800 people, but a new report says there’s little evidence to show that it increases public safety. Eric Gay / Associated Press

For Cook County residents under electronic monitoring, false alarms can be a daily nightmare

People wearing ankle monitors are falsely accused of breaking house arrest when the devices can’t connect to WiFi or the GPS system fails.

By Char Daston
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More than 3,000 Cook County residents are ordered by a court to wear an ankle monitor, meaning they can get arrested if they leave their house, job and other permitted locations. But a study from the University of Chicago found that about 80% of signals from ankle monitors are false alarms.

Reset checks in with two journalists who’ve spoken to Chicagoans currently and formerly on electronic monitoring about their experience.

GUESTS: Natalie Frazier, freelance journalist

Matt Chapman, freelance data journalist