Home Detention

I didn’t have to report to Justice Services until Thursday at 3pm, so I had a whole day to myself. The unfortunate part was that I was really sick. My earache was shaping up to be a full on infection, my throat felt like I was swallowing razorblades, and my sinuses were bricked up. I went out for a few errands, then came home and rested.

Then next day I slept in then went to get my home detention equipment. Some of the women in the tents said they would rather just serve their time in the tents, that they felt the home detention was far more restrictive. I beg to differ. I still get out for work, but other than that I’m at home where all my stuff is, including my own bed, television, Xbox, my kitties, the Internet, and heat.

Home detention consists of a device that is strapped to your ankle. It’s a GPS that tracks your whereabouts. There is a little homing beacon that monitors your distance from your dwelling. Then there is The Sobrietor. Sound like a vigilante anti-hero. The Sobrietor is a contraption that monitors any alcohol intake. Technically you’re on house arrest, not vacation. No sitting around sipping smart cocktails as much as I'd like to. The one I got uses voice recognition, others actually take your picture. The results are sent back to the monitoring agency via your telephone line. I had to have a land line put in just for this. When it was set up for me, I had to repeat numerous times three words until it learned my voice. Seeing as that I had a bad cold I was worried that once the cold was gone would my voice be the same?

It took a while but the contraption finally got set up. So what happens is when the thing sounds an alarm, which sounds like a British police siren, I stick my face into this device that looks like the vision testing device at the MVD. Then I have to repeat the three words again so it recognizes my voice, then I blow into it so it can measure if I’ve been drinking. The three words are America, Eagle, and Red. I mean, what Republican asshole thought this up? It seems to go off every two and a half hours. I have to endure this for 15 more days, then it’s over.

The next day I took a vacation day to sort of wind down after the whole Tent City experience. I was so sick I could barely get up. I ended up going to urgent care and finding out I indeed had an ear infection. The doc gave me a prescription from antibiotics and steroids (anti-inflammatory). The next day I was due back at work, but ended up calling in sick, as I really really was.

Summary

So, that’s my story of what happens when you drink and drive in Arizona. Well, when you drink and drive and get caught. As I said, it’s a bit harassing, I believe the punishment way too harsh, and it’s obviously not a deterrent. I think mostly because no one really knows what the consequences are. It can happen to anyone. This is taking 18 months out of my life. 6 months were going through the courts and the jail term and the license suspension. An entire year I have to be reminded of this experience every time I drive my car, and I drive my car a lot.