Jeremiah Harper pleaded guilty this month to selling cocaine. But despite previous convictions for drugs and manslaughter, a Baltimore judge agreed to sentence him to home detention, subjected to three years of round-the-clock monitoring by a Global Positioning System device.
The 27-year-old is one of the first in Baltimore to be sentenced to this type of high-tech monitoring, the same type of system that powers navigational systems in cars. It is a punishment that could become more common in Maryland.
"Although his offense was serious, it was not violent," Assistant State's Attorney Jenifer Layman said, explaining why she didn't object to GPS monitoring, which will allow him to continue working as a janitor to support his family and newborn baby. "And Mr. Harper had also shown indications of really trying to turn his life around."
Harper's ankle bracelet transmits information on his location every few hours. It alerts his home detention monitor when the device loses its signal, is tampered with, is low on power or if Harper strays into areas deemed off-limits.
Because Harper is an adult and has already been convicted, he must foot the bill for the device - $21.50 a day, or about $23,500 over the course of his sentence. Gov. Martin O'Malley is asking legislators this year for $1 million to track 200 at-risk children in Baltimore via GPS.
"The idea is to reserve the equipment for the most at-risk kids that are going to beat standard electronic monitoring," said Kristen Mahoney, director of the Governor's Office on Crime Control and Prevention. "It's OK to have a higher price to monitor these kids because it becomes a kind of [police] force multiplier. It becomes your little detective."
Authorities across the country use GPS. By equipping 20 gang members with the technology as a condition of their parole, Los Angeles police were able to learn that one of the members was at the scene of a homicide, track his GPS trail via helicopter to a house in Compton and arrest him and six other suspects.
New Jersey parole officials found and arrested a convicted sex offender at the scene of a rape using his GPS monitor, and they have been able to rule out dozens of offenders in other cases.
Correctional officials in Montgomery and Carroll counties also use GPS technology, and the state's Parole and Probation Division is working on hiring a contractor to supply the service.
