Analyzing Candidates for Home Electronic Incarceration on Return-to-Custody Rates for Inmates

Home electronic incarceration, otherwise known as HEI, is an alternative to traditional incarceration. HEI allows inmates who meet certain qualifications, including stable residency, employment, and nonviolent offenses, to serve their sentence from their residence rather than in jail. Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail (ACRJ) maintained a restricted capacity for HEI, primarily extending this opportunity to frequent offenders who met the qualifications above (Dornfeld et al., 2023). At the advent of COVID-19, ACRJ increased their capacity and use of HEI to reduce the number of occupants in the jail and, as a result, mitigate contagion risk (Kumer, 2023). Following the expansion of the HEI program, (Dornfeld et al., 2023) discovered that HEI participants had lower reoffense rates than jail-sentenced counterparts who committed similar crimes. Currently, HEI participants are determined from information gleaned from their files or by court order (Kumer, 2023). To streamline this selection process and increase the participation of inmates benefitting from HEI, factors were investigated that correlate with HEI’s success. This research will assist jail administration in identifying candidates who will gain the most from HEI and recommend those offenders to the program.The methods consist of quantitative analysis of booking data acquired from ACRJ along with insight and guidance from contacts at Region Ten Community Services, an organization dedicated to working with those affected by mental illnesses, substance abuse, and/or developmental disabilities. Additionally, Offender and Aid Restoration- Jefferson Area Community Corrections (OAR-JACC) provided a meaningful understanding of the project. The quantitative analysis focuses on factors that may correlate with HEI violations and changes in recidivism rates including criminal history, current charge, mental health, employment, and gender.Factors were identified and analyzed that increase the likelihood of an inmate successfully completing their HEI sentence without violation, using the improved stability provided by HEI to prevent recidivism. These factors formulate sentencing recommendations for ACRJ’s decision-making process.