A first-person account from a defendant under house arrest
Nobody prepares you for this. When you are charged with a crime, you have to make decisions quickly and you don’t know which way to go. All of a sudden, I had to find an attorney and contact a bail bonds agency. How was I going to do all that? I was in jail!
I relied on my family to help me. They found A 2nd Chance Bail Bonds through a friend of a friend. I had already been in county jail for seven weeks when that connection was made. The court decided I could be on probation if I wore an ankle monitor 24/7. Luckily, A 2nd Chance’s sister company, A 2nd Chance Monitoring, offers electronic monitors so that was one less call I had to make.
A monitoring professional from A 2nd Chance Monitoring came to the jail and fitted me with an electronic ankle monitor so I could be released. He was so gracious and kind. I will never forget his gentle demeanor after seven weeks in the county jail. Because I was learning how to live in a new world with an ankle monitor, I had several questions that he answered for me:
- Could I shower with the monitor on?
- How do I know it’s time to charge it?
- How long do I have to sit next to an electrical outlet to fully charge it?
- Where is the warning light that tells me the monitor is low on power?
For the past two years and seven months, I have been on the strictest kind of house arrest. At first, I was only allowed to drive to work and drive home. I was so worried about doing something wrong that I texted my A 2nd Chance Monitoring agent before I left for work, when I arrived, when I left for the day and when I got home. I was never once told to stop texting even though I’m sure it was annoying. It was the overcommunication that I needed for peace of mind and my contact understood that.
After six months with A 2nd Chance Monitoring they moved me to a different monitor that didn’t need to be charged at a wall outlet in order to communicate with my contact. It came with a phone that I carried with me 24/7. As long as the monitor and the charged phone were together, I was in compliance with the terms of my house arrest. Another nice feature with the phone is that I could use its calendar and my schedule would be visible to A 2nd Chance Monitoring.
My contact from A 2nd Chance Monitoring was a great compass for me as I navigated this world of unknowns. A 2nd Chance Monitoring has shown an incredible capacity to manage me, answer all my questions and set my expectations. Most importantly, all the A 2nd Chance Monitoring people always treated me like a human being and not a violator.
I would recommend A 2nd Chance Monitoring a hundred times over. They have gone above and beyond for me.
