Which is of little help if you’re robbed, beaten or raped by one of them…
Ankle monitors for rejected asylum seekers
Taken by the ankles
The Tampere-based newspaper Aamulehti looks at the new government’s plan to extend the use of ankle monitors to persons who have received negative asylum decisions in Finland.
Criminal Sanctions Agency (Rise) senior specialist Pia Andersson tells the paper that if this added electronic monitoring is added to the responsibilities of the agency “it would require legislation granting that power and additional resources to manage it.” The government programme proposes expanding the use of ankle monitors as a more-liberating alternative to detention that is nevertheless appropriate to safeguard public safety. The monitor is connected to a device in the person’s home that tracks their coming and going. Any deviations from approved routines are then reported to Rise’s national monitoring system.
Ankle monitors can also be linked to GPS devices for clear monitoring of the wearers’ location at all times, the paper writes. Trips outside of an approved area, for example, trigger an alarm, as does any attempt to remove the device.