Already, three Russian companies have devised such a transmitting wristband, as well as a receiver, to be installed at the apprehended person's place. These technical devices will help police monitor the detainee's movements, making sure he/she stays inside.
"The system is quite reliable," Vladimir Artyomov, a lawyer by training and one of the Moscow Duma legislators working on the bill, told Izvestia daily in an interview. "Unlike American or European counterparts, our wristband has no lock, and is therefore impossible to be taken off. It can be sawn apart, of course, but this will take some special equipment."
Russian-made monitoring systems for those under house arrest will be available at $1,000 apiece. The service costs-about $100 per month-are to be covered by the prisoner. This is not a huge sum of money, so many of the detainees will likely prefer being confined to their own home rather than to an overcrowded jail.
One other advantage of the new bill, according to its masterminds, is that it will help save Treasury funds, with no money to spend on the upkeep of the detainees and the guards' wages. In addition, the introduction of the monitoring devices will help speed up investigations. Today, even defense lawyers find it difficult to keep contact with their clients in pre-trial detention centers-in order to be able to see an inmate awaiting trial, visitors have to make sure they are put on a waiting list well in advance. And then again, the number of rooms earmarked for visitation is so small that no one can guarantee the meeting will take place on the appointed day.
According to Artyomov, in the first half of 2004, Russia's courts honored just 354 of all the house arrest applications filed as no monitoring system was around. This number is too small, the lawyer lamented.
