VIDEO: What It’s Like To Be On House Arrest

GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI) – When you do a crime, you serve the time, but for some offenders the sentence isn’t served behind bars.

Technology makes it possible for law enforcement to keep an eye on offenders at home, but house arrest isn’t necessarily a ” Get out of Jail free Card”

Committing a non-violent crime will land a pricey tracking device on your ankle, and that device can never be taken off during the sentence time, not even to shower.

There’s no place like home, especially when you can serve the time for your crime there, instead of being locked behind bars.

“House arrest is typically done on lesser crimes, for example, if someone burglarizes a business or something like that, you know there wasn’t much damage done. They might do it on that, or a mischievous mischief, or something similar to that where you don’t have much damage, and there’s not much harm,” says Attorney Jeff Hosford.

Besides officers knowing your every move, and having to wear a wallet sized ankle bracelet, the Intensive Supervision Program allows individuals to live a normal lifestyle.

“Mississippi Department of Corrections, they’re the one who orders those. I think each bracelet costs about a thousand dollars. They’re being monitored by the the Mississippi Department of Corrections through their house arrest agents, and basically they’re able to monitor that person’s movement on a day to day basis,” says Criminal Investigator of the 16th District, Maurice Johnson.

House arrest ranges from one to three years, but regardless of the time, the rules and regulations can never be broken.

“If you use alcohol, or commit a new crime, at that time you can be taken off house arrest, incarcerated and your case will still go back before the judge, and then you can be incarcerated with the Mississippi Department of Corrections, meaning actually serving time in person,” says Johnson.

House arrest is all about asking a judge to take a chance on you.

“The goal again is always to get them back to society, because the biggest problem you have is repeat offenders, and you’re trying not to have that happen. You’re trying to get people in a way to understand that you have to change your life, unless you really want to go to Parchman or to Rankin County, and spend time in a cell, where you’re locked up and can’t even go to work,” says Hosford.

Other house arrest regulations include having a home phone and a curfew.

Curfews are usually from 12 a.m. until 6 a.m., but it depends on the offenders circumstances.