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Costs & Payment of Expenses Incurred for Location Monitoring

At the pretrial stage, the cost to supervise persons on LM is substantially lower than the cost of detention; thus, use of LM over detention provides a significant opportunity to ensure cost-effective service to the public. By imposing release with an LM condition, where appropriate, judicial officers are able to promote the responsible use of public funding to protect the rights of individuals and to reasonably ensure the appearance of a person charged with an offense and the safety of the community as required.         

The cost of supervising a person on LM during post-conviction is also lower than the cost of incarceration.

Payment of LM expenses summary chart
Phase in Federal Matter LM Purpose(s) Who pays for LM
Pretrial
  • Increase certainty of appearance of person on LM.
  • Reduce ability to commit new crimes.
  • Mitigate any identified risk.
  • Combination of the Judiciary and pretrial participants on LM who make co-payments.
Post-Conviction
  • Limit opportunity to engage in unlawful conduct.
  • Aid in successful completion of the term of supervision.
  • Persons on probation and supervised release only pay a co-payment if ordered by the court. Any expenses not covered by a co-payment, if applicable, are paid for by the Judiciary.
  • Prerelease custody/FLM participants are required to pay the full cost of LM & the BOP reimburses the district for all co-payment expenses not collected. In accordance with the interagency agreement, the United States probation system is reimbursed by the BOP for the supervision assistance of persons enrolled in the FLM program.

Last Updated: March 2020

Explore the other sections of the Location Monitoring Reference Guide.

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