NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A new law in Louisiana aims to hold electronic monitoring companies accountable if they fail to keep track of an offender.
Attorney General Liz Murrill announced on Tuesday, July 10, that her office will be investigating electronic monitoring after it was revealed that Kristie Thibodeaux, a French Quarter tour guide, was allegedly murdered by a teenager who had an electronic monitor.
The law, also known as Act No. 746, takes effect in January, and supporters of the legislation say it’s about time.
Jill Dennis, director of the privately-owned Assured Supervision Accountability Program (A.S.A.P.), which provides ankle monitors, made several visits to the Louisiana State Capitol earlier this year.
Dennis learned that it wasn’t illegal if an electronic monitoring company failed to track a client wearing an ankle monitor.
The bill, authored by Representative Timothy Kerner, changes that.
“It requires that whoever’s monitoring an individual report that they’re monitoring to the court, to the sheriff. It requires the clerk of court to put who’s monitoring that individual and their contact information in the docket,” Dennis explained. “It requires that GPS providers report all violations of strap tampers, exclusions, low batteries and common losses to the court within 24 hours.”
Elisabeth Hansard says she was contacted by A.S.A.P. staff when 20-year-old Tata Say cut off his ankle monitor. Say is one of the suspects accused of shooting and paralyzing Hansard’s son Noah, a now-25-year-old University of New Orleans student, in 2022.
“In the story of failed ankle monitors, our story was probably better than most,” said Hansard.
She supports the new law, saying an electronic monitoring company also carries the burden to protect victims.
“The courts are deciding that certain people should be eligible, and we’re putting them into these programs, so now these companies are literally holding the lives of the citizens,” said Hansard.
The mother, who now helps care for her son, also says not to wait to become a victim before fighting for accountability.
Hansard said, “Speak up, become verbal, look at your elections, in particular your judges, and understand what they represent and demand that our laws be enforced.”
Orleans Parish Chief Juvenile Court Judge Candice Bates-Anderson confirmed the electronic monitors they assign are overseen by the Office of Juvenile Justice.
The department has not responded to WGNO’s request for comment, and a spokesperson for Murrill says they cannot comment further because of the investigation.
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