Juveniles stay incarcerated because of monitoring bracelet shortage

A shortage of electronic monitoring bracelets is causing scores of juvenile detainees who are eligible for home monitoring to stay locked up in a detention center.

As recently as last week, 26 juveniles who might have been sent home with monitoring bracelets on their ankles were held at the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center, according to officials. The facility serves as a jail for those under 17 who are awaiting trial in criminal cases.

"They should not put a hold on them" if there aren't enough of the devices, said Nick Lagattuta, a lawyer for a teenager, who was detained in January. "They should let them out."

Electronic bracelets connect to monitoring computers via telephone lines -- either land lines or cellular phones -- to track whether those wearing them are where they are supposed to be. The department had about 100 bracelets at the beginning of last year, but only 60 were available by last month, according to officials.

Budget shortfalls and a bureaucratic red tape has slowed replacement of the bracelets, which can cost $2,400 each.

The juvenile probation department has been trying to get 200 new bracelets since early last year, said Michael Rohan, director of the juvenile probation department. The first 70 arrived Friday and officials started distributing them almost immediately, he said.

Most juveniles eligible for the bracelets are confined to their homes for 20 to 30 days. It wasn't unusual for a teen to be held at the detention center for a week until a device became available, officials said.

There has been allegations of abuse, inadequate mental health services and staff shortages levied at Cook County's juvenile detention center in recent years. An administrator appointed by a federal judge took over the facility last year.

On Monday, 10 staff members and 16 youths suffered minor injuries during a melee at the center.

"Every day the child spends in detention, the more chance they have of being harmed," said Monica Mahan, a social worker at Northwestern University's Children and Family Justice Center.