St. Maarten to start using at-home
electronic surveillance for convicts
PHILIPSBURG--If the tests are successful and the local telephone companies cooperate, St. Maarten will have one or more convicts using an at-home electronic surveillance system by Friday.
State Secretary of Justice Ernie Simmons and Prison Director Rudsel Ricardo were present at a special presentation given by Magda Martina of the Department of Justice in Curaçao and Bon Futuro Prison Head of Security Joey Pinedoe on the administrative and technical processes involved with the electronic surveillance system.
Simmons said the idea was to assess the situation and at the end of the week hopefully it will become clearer in the minds of all the parties involved whether the island needs more equipment and whether the conditions for using the electronic surveillance system are feasible for the island.
Twenty of the devices that come complete with a transmitter and a base station have been made available for use in St. Maarten and will be monitored from the surveillance centre in Curaçao.
The selection process will be the responsibility of the local Justice Department and candidates to be selected will have to be age 16 and older. Two possibilities are being offered in Curaçao, before detention and after detention.
According to Martina, in Curaçao when inmates are in the last 15% of their prison sentences they become candidates for the use of the electronic surveillance system. In some cases a convict is allowed to use the system immediately, before being imprisoned.
One of the key factors for the system to work would be an agreement with TelEm, according to Pinedoe. He explained that the system was connected to a phone line at the convict’s house and sent an all-okay signal to the monitoring station, which in this case would be Curaçao, or sends a signal telling the monitoring station that something has gone wrong.
Pinedoe explained that there were several security features with the monitoring device to avoid tampering. He said if the band were tampered with or removed for whatever reason it would send a signal to the monitoring station immediately.
The transmitter monitors the temperature of the person wearing it and reports changes. It is covered with plastic, but lined with metal strips, making it difficult to destroy.
The base station must be installed by a technician and cannot be removed for any reason or disconnected. If it is removed or lifted for any reason it will send a signal to the monitoring station.
The idea is to allow the convict some possibilities to move about, but with specific restrictions and to do so while being constantly monitored. Because the system was already in use in Curaçao, it was decided that it would be brought here and the monitoring would be done in Curaçao.
However, the intention is to then determine, based on experience gained, whether St. Maarten needs its own system for monitoring.
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