RemoteCom is rather interesting because they do not charge the local jurisdiction anything for performing this monitoring service (article claims there is some kind of contract between RemoteCom and the State). However, they do charge the probationer $35.00 a month. This arrangement is bothersome and may implicate rights of probationers, as there doesn't seem to be any court order to allow violation of the private rights of the probationer. Especially since the computer is within the home, and the monitoring is NOT DONE by the supervising agent. This needs to be investigated by the ACLU. It appears this service is REAL-TIME capture, but, not REAL-TIME alerting of supervising agents; weird.
11-25-2009 Georgia:
The state renews its contract with RemoteCOM to monitor ex-convicts' online activity.
ATLANTA - Keeping convicted sex offenders from getting into trouble over the Internet once they're released can be a difficult task, but Georgia's Department of Corrections is using technology to help.
Probation officers, each with 50 or so felons to supervise, would have a chore to manually screen all the online activity during their monthly surprise inspections of the ex-convict's homes. The special conditions sex offenders agree to when they are granted probation permits the inspections, and a new state law requires the offenders to turn over their user names and passwords, but enforcing the conditions can be tricky.
So, the Corrections Department just renewed its contract with a Texas company, RemoteCOM, that monitors the online activity electronically at no cost to taxpayers. The offenders who get permission to use the Internet agree to pay RemoteCOM $35 per month and to put a company software program on their home computer.
The software blocks access to prohibited pornographic Web sites and chat rooms. It also scans permitted applications, such as e-mail, for key words that could suggest a violation.
RemoteCOM hires off-duty police officers to manually inspect the activity their software alerts them to. For example, a reply to an e-mail that wasn't originally sent from the monitored computer would be a clue that the offender had used another computer in violation of the rules.
RemoteCOM estimates 10 percent of convicted sex offenders get sent back to prison for violating their online rules.
The Corrections Department oversees 6,200 sex offenders on probation, but only about 20 are monitored, according to department spokeswoman Sharmelle Brooks.
"There have been no violations from locations that use the system," she said.
One reason is because the offenders know they're being watched and don't do anything online that they wouldn't want to do in public, according to RemoteCOM President Robert Rosenbusch.
"We are trying to create a perception of containment on their computer," he said. "We want to put them out into the public. This is not something they would want to do in the public library."
RemoteCOM agrees to send its experts to testify for free in the case of a violation to any of the multiple states and counties it works with. Rosenbusch said it's never had to testify in the company's five years because defense attorneys always have recommended a guilty plea once they've seen the evidence the company's computer compiles.
The Corrections Department isn't the only state agency supervising convicted sex offenders. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles oversees 365 sex offenders who have been released early and are serving the balance of their sentences on parole. It doesn't use a monitoring service, relying instead on regular polygraphs, therapy sessions and inspections by parole officers, said Richard Oleson, program manager for sex offender and electronic monitoring.
"If there's something we're not seeing, the polygrapher and the therapist might advise us," he said. "Our procedures are pretty good." ..Source.. Walter C. Jones
