When Evelyn Canal was first placed on probation in high school for charges associated with auto theft, she was given the choice to either be on house arrest with an electronic ankle monitor or return to juvenile hall. The device was secured so tight around her ankle that it cut into her skin, she said, causing lacerations. But Canal couldn’t loosen it.
Canal — who is now 20, based in the Bay Area and in college studying for a business degree — was one of the roughly 10,000 youth who are put on electronic ankle monitoring a year in the state of California, according to afrom the University of California, Berkeley, law school on the use of ankle monitors in the state’s juvenile justice programs.
“I got violated for charging my ankle monitor one minute late,” Canal said. “I also got in trouble when my grandma’s house had a fire at 3 in the morning and I had to evacuate. My GPS officer wanted me to turn myself in because I was standing outside my house after the fire. What was I supposed to do?”
Alameda County changed its rules in April of last year to no longer charge youth with violations for small infractions of the electronic monitoring rules, said Ford, the probation officer. While he could not comment on Canal’s case, Ford added that electronic monitoring for youth in the county is court-ordered.
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