I've been in hiding lately, but not to worry I'm still here. My family has come to spend some of their summer vacation with me. They've taken up a majority of my time, but I'm not complaining. Some company is nice for a change. It makes house arrest a lot more interesting with a little bit of company. I need to write more frequently, daily is too much, but I think weekly is too little. What do you guys think?
Anyways, I have yet to inform you the most exciting part of house arrest. I like to call it "plugging in". For two hours everyday you must plug your ankle monitor into the wall to charge. A long cord is hooked to my ankle, and it makes me feel like I'm some kind of robot. It is very important to keep a full battery at all times, they ask you to charge every day, at the same time. If your battery dies, they cannot find you, and you're in trouble. By they, I mean the house arrest people. They do not like to call you and you do not like to hear from them, so just keep your devices charged! In the beginning, I thought this was wonderful. For two whole hours I was able to kick back and relax. I thought it was a great opportunity to catch up on some Netflix or paint my nails. As if I couldn't do those during the rest of my free time...
Now, this is my least favorite part of the day. Reason being, my cord has a mind of its own and does what it pleases, and by that I mean doesn't charge. The other day, I had a marathon of The Kardashians playing, popcorn bowl in hand, and my device plugged in. I must have been on the couch for a good 3 1/2 hours. I know, pathetic! But, I'm on house arrest, so cut me some slack! Around 12:15 AM I receive a call from the house arrest office. Anytime I see "House Arrest Office" or "Officer Jackie" calling I get very uneasy. A million thoughts run through my mind, and I often answer the phone in a panic. She called to tell me that my device was not charged and I needed to plug it in ASAP. I explained that it had been plugged in for well over two hours, but she insisted I keep it plugged in. She advised me to dip a Q-tip into nail polish remover or medicinal alcohol and clean out the area that gets plugged in. I use the alcohol tip whenever the device is being stubborn, works like a charm!
When you plug the cord into station on your anklet, it blinks red then orange, and eventually it stays red. When the device is fully charged it will turn green. Apparently something is wrong with mine, because it has to be twisted just the right way in order to hold a charge (red light). Even the smallest movement from my foot can pull the cord and I have to fidget with it all over again. This is not the first time I've been called about low battery, and I'm sure it will not be the last. It's frightening to know at any time your butt can be dragged back to jail, even for something as little as a dead battery.
In other news, I cut myself shaving again! Shaving with an ankle bracelet is just as challenging as it sounds. In my pictures above you see a scar, and a new cut. I thank my anklet for that, the damn thing just gets in the way. Heads up, take your time shaving, these cuts are starting to get a bit ridiculous. I really need to begin taking my own advice once in a while.
Sincerely,
Allison
i have no idea how i stumbled upon your blog but I'm from southern cali and as of today am on house arrest for 6 months too. luckily i just have one anklet which monitors my alcohol (scram) and something that hooks up to my phone line at home so it knows when I'm out of the house or in the house. Your story is so similar to mine, I'm 19 and have always done well in school and played sports but over time i slowly got sucked into partying which led to other stuff..its awesome you have found the program. i don't know what id do without AA. it is my first day of a 6 month house arrest but i have already been sober for a little over 6 months, and i promise you being sober gets easier. hang in there girl! I'm right there with ya on this haha
ReplyDeleteI'm in so cal also and about to go on scram as a volunteer to be proactive before my case �� how is the device for you?! I hear a lot of people end up getting them off earlier the the 120 days ?!
DeleteHow do u guys wear it so it wont hurt or make it some what comfortable I got 209. Days to go it rubs on my skin and hurt
DeleteI'm thrilled that you have found my blog. Maybe we can be of help to each other. You are so lucky to only have one ankle bracelet, feel like I'm in shackles. I think the best part out of all of this was discovering AA. I'm so thankful to be in the program as well. House isn't so bad, just try to keep a positive perspective and follow the rules. Best of luck! Feel free to chat anytime
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Allison
hey girl i been on house arrest zince oct its now jan nd a po just called me to tell me i need to meet w my monitoring person cus my anklet is low on battery she didnt sound mad should i b worried
ReplyDeleteStumbled upon your blog, literally, stumbled, after a night out. I liked reading and hope you come back to write more. I think you have great words to share! thanks for sharing what you have, thus far. :)
ReplyDeleteHey Allison my monitor blinks green while it's charging. Does that mean it's fully charged because I do charge this thing about every five hours am I good or what.#confused
ReplyDeleteHi Allison, my name is Ashley. I have only been on house arrest for a coupke of days. Today my ankle monitor started blinking red so i plugged it in. Sat there for 2 hoyrs, look down and NO LIGHTS AT ALL! I then called the lady that put it on and she gets an attitude saying thst i cant keep calling and that everything was fine on their end, but i know it died. Turns out that she gave me a charger that has been taped back together and apparently was disconnected. I fixed it and am now plugged in agsin. The light is syill red even though its been charging for over an hour and a half. What should i do?
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Ashley
I have the exact same issue its te weekend an I've left vm and I get no call backs :( idk what to do. I'm freaking out
DeleteI live in wi. Have a GPS bracelet for life even though I'm off paper. I got in trouble when I was 18. Charger works when it wants too and I get attitudes when I call monitoring. It's a shitty program and a microchip don't require a battery for gps. Why cant we have a chip instead of a bracelet? Fuck america! USA doesn't exist anymore. Rights are slowly being eliminated and nobody has a choice unless your rich.
ReplyDeleteI'm also on a tether and would rather be on a tether then in jail. You had a choice to commit a crime, you had a choice to accept being on a tether or staying in jail and you have a choice to LEAVE AMERICA! :-)
DeleteIm in central california. Mine stays orange all day then I plug in for 20 to 40 min and it turns green. But never says full or anything. I have tries charging all night and same thing. Stays green for hour tops then back to orange. Today I went like almost 24 hours no change same orange light, then charged for 20 min and turned green. I'm wondering if it goes red after orange or what happens.
ReplyDeleteI'm wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet and having trouble with mine, too. It's hard to get it to start charging, gotta fiddle around with it forever, and like you said, the slightest movement of my leg will cause it to stop charging and then I gotta screw around with it some more. What a pain in the ass!
ReplyDeleteI've been on an ankle bracelet from immigration since like 4 months now. This month it will prob be taken off. My charger started acting up. And well. It's suck. I would post a pic of how it scraped my skin off but I cant. Anyways. I havnt minded wearing except I can't be in movie theaters or amusement park bc the battery will drain fast, not just that this past week the chargers has been acting up not wanting to charge the device. I will be going to be going for a new one tommorow morning.
ReplyDelete-jenn
Hey
ReplyDeleteI'm on house arrest and my probation officer tells me I must charge 1 hour. I've been through 5 Gps devices already. Not because they were defective, which my po thought, but he's not letting me charge enough. My bracelet is always red indicating it's not fully charged. I've asked if I can charge for two hours but he says that's too long. I'm in fear that I'll go to jail because he's not letting me fully charge my device. What should I do? I've read that some people do charge for two hours and their device turns green and they have no problems. My house is old and the electrical isn't as great as these new homes.
ReplyDeleteI have an awesome tether officer. He has told me that the red and green lights do not indicate anything! To charge your tether EVERY 10 hours for 2 hours. My tether is an OmniLink. Also just in case anyones tether officer has not informed them, you can not plug them into a power strip or on an extension cord. They will not charge that way. I hope this has helped some of you.
DeleteI'm on house arrest and my probation officer tells me I must charge 1 hour. I've been through 5 Gps devices already. Not because they were defective, which my po thought, but he's not letting me charge enough. My bracelet is always red indicating it's not fully charged. I've asked if I can charge for two hours but he says that's too long. I'm in fear that I'll go to jail because he's not letting me fully charge my device. What should I do? I've read that some people do charge for two hours and their device turns green and they have no problems. My house is old and the electrical isn't as great as these new homes.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens if it dies while youre sleeping and u had no idea or the charger broke my charger broke on accident i stepped on it with my boots its the little megnetic chargers and now it wont charge i called my po but no answer i also called the prohbation office but its the weekend they dont answer what should i do my tether died but my po is really cool with me i dont think he cares but wat should i do because when i first met him he told me that i had to make sure its charged and if it dies i get a warrent how would i clear this warrant do i have to pay or just charge it and let them know what happened
ReplyDeleteI am on nys parole.i was just afforded the ability to wear a piece of jewellery around my ankle.lol...my question is this...I get no lights all day,but when I plug in I get an orange light.first time I charged it it turned green after a few hours....they said when battery gets low it vibrates.so I work it to work yesterday and didn't charge it because it never vibrated.last night I plugged it in when i was sleeping...it's now 8:22am and it's still plugged in and light is still orange....what happen to green light? Is it not fully charged yet?.please comment on this..or you can email me at billybrady1976@gmail.com...thank you for your blog Allison
ReplyDeleteWell I'm josh I'm on house arrest till late October early November I have been on house arrest for about a month now and my ankle bracket decided to act up like it stopped charging for a sec I started to freak out and didn't know what to do if you could please email me for help that would be excellent my email address is wdskip94@gmail.com thatnk you
ReplyDeleteI've been on GPS for 6 months now. The different color lights while charging have changed throughout the 6 months....sometimes I don't ever see it green anymore & sometimes it shows green as soon as I plug in. I asked my PO about this and she told me not to pay attention to the color the bracelet is showing.... She said as long as I charge a full 2hrs a day I should be fine. So far so good...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDo you know what would happen if I lost the charger? Will they give me a new one?
ReplyDeleteDo you know what would happen if I lost the charger? Will they give me a new one?
ReplyDeleteDo you know if they can tell what times you are charging?
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI randomly came across your blog with a google search of surviving house arrest. I have been sentenced to 9 mo intermediate punishment and I'm on my 2nd month and am going nuts!!!!
I would love it if we could help each other and talk. I know for me with my family living 150 miles away and my in-laws not knowing I'm on house arrest it gets incredibly lonely!!
Johnson.tm1@gmail.com
Hey if its green can I unplug it?
ReplyDeleteSo do you know if I charge for 59 min and it gets unpluged do I really have to start over or I that just bs
ReplyDeleteShit my device doesn't want 2 charge the monitor but until I read the comment 4m "thesakeofkarma" sayn 2days after a full charge , that'll B cool then court is around 12hrs .
ReplyDelete