Jeff Hansen, Telmate’s chief marketing officer points out that in the past few years, as a result of federal court cases and public elections there has been a shift from “hard bed” corrections to community corrections. Sates across the country have been mandated to release thousands of prisoners due to overcrowding and voter initiatives are reducing felonies to misdemeanors. “As a result, due to the large numbers of clients being returned to society, community corrections is the growing corrections market in need of effective tools to help with the rehabilitation and reintegrating of clients back into society. It has become clear that as a society, we cannot continue to house all offenders in hard beds, and therefore we must find effective, efficient and affordable ways to keep release offenders under effective supervision,” he says.
Telmate offers one of the latest advancements in this area with their Guardian system, a low-cost, Smartphone-based, GPS monitoring solution for low-risk populations. LaFayette County, LA., recently announced their adoption of the new system into their program. Rob Reardon, director of corrections at Lafayette comments. “The adoption of Telmate Guardian gives Lafayette the opportunity to have a low-cost alternative to supervise low-risk offenders while getting more data about their whereabouts and behaviors.” Reardon oversees jail operations and programs such as the Sheriff’s Tracking Offender Program (STOP). which is a pre-trial program. He notes that Lafayette prides itself in exploring challenging ways to provide the most innovative services for the community. “Guardian seems to be the right fit to take this pre-trial program to the next level,” Reardon explains.
“I know there are options out there, but they do not seem as simple to the user as Guardian,” adds Tommy D. Payne, president, Intertech Probation, Inc., Carrollton, Ga. “The Guardian system gives us a reliable monitoring device for a fraction of traditional costs while keeping out community safe.”
