County to explore ankle monitors to alleviate jail issues

By Tony Farkas
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GROVETON — The Trinity County Commissioners Court approved working with Recovery Monitoring Solutions to use ankle monitoring to help lessen the number of inmates the Sheriff’s Office has to house either locally or in other prisons.

Cathy Schweitzer of RMS said her company, which is based in Dallas, provides GPS-based satellite tracking for people using the service, which currently is about 10,000 people daily. The cost is $8 per day per monitor, with no setup or hidden fees.

The system has the ability to set boundaries when required.

Commissioner Neal Smith said he was ready to start immediately; Commissioner Mike Loftin said that the county could save $1,980 per month per inmate using such monitoring, since it costs on average $75 per day per prisoner to house them in other jails.

Currently, the Adult Probation Office covering Trinity County uses the system, and Community Supervision Officer Teressa Ray said the only downside is there are excessive violation reports on occasion.

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County Judge Danny Martin said using the system could save the county an estimated $200,000 per year.

The court approved the use of the system, which could take 2 to 3 weekcs to set up; in the meantime, Martin will appoint a committee to determine how the system will work best within the county.

In a related matter, the county approved an agreement with Genesis eBonds to allow bail bonds to be paid online.

In other business, the county:

•determined that three properties in the Westwood Shores subdivision were public nuisances; and

•approved a plan from the Sheriff’s Posse to demolish the Posse building located at the Y and replace it with a covered slab structure.