The service, known as the Satellite Monitoring and Remote Tracking System or SMART, uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to track the location of offenders 24 hours a day, seven days a week. SecurityLink is offering the service to corrections agencies nationwide through an agreement with Palm Harbor, Fla.-based Pro Tech Monitoring, Inc., which developed the technology.

"The service gives corrections agencies the ultimate electronic monitoring solution when they need it most," said Ed Maier, director of SecurityLink's Electronic Monitoring Solutions Group. "With the continuing rise in prison costs, the number of offenders in alternative programs, like home incarceration or work release, has doubled to more than 70,000 since 1995."

"We depend on electronic monitoring as a cost-effective alternative to incarceration for non-violent offenders," said Bill Kimberlin, chief probation offiicer, Sandusky Municipal Court, Sandusky, Ohio, which contracted with SecurityLink for the service and began using it this week to track offenders in its jurisdiction. "Now, for the first time, we have the technology to monitor an offender's whereabouts in real time. Satellite tracking takes electronic monitoring to a whole new level."

GPS is the U.S. Department of Defense's constellation of 24 satellites used today for a variety of both defense and commercial applications. Signals from any three satellites can pinpoint a location anywhere on Earth, using latitude and longitude readings.

Offenders tracked by the SMART System carry a small tracking device, which receives coordinates from GPS satellites and communicates them to a monitoring center. The readings are fed to computers with advanced mapping software, which details offenders' movements. Offenders must keep the tracking device near them at all times or break an electronic link between the device and an ankle bracelet worn by the offender. If the link is broken, the tracking device alerts authorities.

The service gives corrections agencies the flexibility to restrict offenders to specific geographic areas and declare other areas off limits. If an offender violates the boundaries of a restricted area, officials are alerted so they can dispatch police and warn victims or witnesses.

SecurityLink from Ameritech provides a variety of advanced security, fire detection and electronic monitoring systems to more than 1.1 million residential, commercial and government customers throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

GPS Jailers