N.L. forges ahead with ankle bracelets for offenders

The Department of Justice and Public Safety has issued arequest for proposals for electronic monitoring devices for offenders.

The pilot program will begin on the Avalon Peninsula and Labrador, and will involve giving offenders GPS ankle bracelets while they serve their sentence in the community.

"I believe in the necessity in this, its importance and value but it's like everything, there's a cost that comes with it," Justice Minister Andrew Parsons said Tuesday.

"Solet's see the impact on the rest of the system."

Correctional facilities in the province are "busting at the seams," Parsons said. The reintroduction of electronic monitoring will provide another sentencing option other than incarceration.

• Ankle bracelets and new bail supervision program aimed at cutting jail overpopulation

Ankle bracelettechnology was discontinued by the Tory governmentin 2013 as a cost-cutting measure. However, Parsons said technology has advanced since then.

The monitors can be customized depending on the offender and his or her restrictions. Exclusion zones schools, playgrounds or a geographic area can be programmed into the bracelets.

"If you go to that zone, the alarms are going off," Parsons said.

Parsons expects the pilot project to begin in the fall.

Not the 'be all, end all'

Cindy Murphy, executive director of the John Howard Society, cautions that GPS tracking is merely another tool at the justice system's disposal.

"Weneed to be careful in recognizingit for what it is. It has some limitations but what's more important is that it doesn't address the underlying factors as to why people commit crime in the first place," Murphy told CBC News.

There is still an amount of time that lapses between the time a person breaches a court-imposed order and is apprehended, she said.

There's always the concern of widening of the net.- Cindy Murphy

Murphy is also keeping on eye on who the devices will be used on.

"There's always the concern of widening of the net," she said. "Becausethis tool is now available,will more people be subjected to electronic monitoring that may not have been in the past?"

Ankle monitoring is one of two new measures the Liberal government hopes to introduce as a way to cut down on the strained correctional systems.

The province is also planning abail supervision program, which will allow judges the option of ordering supervision foroffenders rather than remanding them. This process will keep offenders out of custody instead ofin holding while they awaittheir trial.

Read morefrom CBC Newfoundland and Labrador