Cabinet approves of electronic ankle bracelets in house arrest sentences

Ankle bracelets and other technological devices will now be used in Slovakia for house arrests, reads a new law passed by the Cabinet on Wednesday. The Justice Ministry plans to launch the pilot project of monitoring people under house arrest in July of this year and then put it into real use as of January 2016. Depending on the number of house arrest sentences issued by the courts, ankle bracelets could allow for the monitoring of up to 2000 persons at the same time. As of 2006 Slovakia recognises the sentence of house arrest however the number of such sentences is low. The new law should make room for more house arrests issued by the courts. Justice Minister Tomas Borec stressed that no murderers, rapists or serious offenders will be part of this program. Costs of house arrests are by almost 2/3rds lower than the imprisonment of convicts. The project of ankle bracelets is to cost 22 million EUR and will be financed from eurofunds. The return on this investment is expected in a matter of 6 years.