‘Digital shackles’: the unexpected cruelty of ankle monitors

The use of GPS monitors to track offenders is on the rise in the US. But wearers say it amounts to a new form of imprisonment

Every day at about 5pm, 60-year-old Willard Birts has to find a power outlet. Then he has towait two hours next to it while the battery on his ankle monitor recharges. If he lets the battery drain, or enters San Mateo county, he risks being sent back to jail while he awaits trial.

Birts pays $30 per day - that's $840 per month - for the privilege of wearing the bulky device. It sucks up all his income, leaving him homeless and sleeping in his Ford Escape in Oakland.