SAGINAW, MI - Electronic tethers can prevent people from committing crimes or reverting to alcohol use, officials say. But the devices aren’t cheap.

Some say the cost — as much as $500 a month paid by the wearer — is too high for someone just getting out of prison or jail.

“They’re not able to pay it, it hurts their credit, and it puts them in a hole," said Chris Gautz, Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman. “They get out of prison and they don’t have a job, then they’re charged hundreds a month to operate these things.”

The cost varies depending on the type of device.

The MDOC uses GPS devices manufactured by Attenti and SCRAM tethers made by Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS) Inc.

Alcohol-monitoring (SCRAM) and GPS devices run $13 per day, while a curfew-monitoring one is $11 per day. Wearing both SCRAM and GPS devices, the cost is $16.50 per day, or $495 for 30 days.

Gautz said legislation introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives in 2018 by Rep. Tommy Brann, R-Wyoming, seeks to set a flat monthly supervision rate of $60 for offenders on tethers ($30 for those not on such devices), something the MDOC supports.

Brann said the proposal was in response to concerns raised by family members of those on parole.

He said current supervision fees paid by parolees “do not support a successful reentry into society because they are unaffordable for many offenders, resulting in a cycle of non-compliance, non-payment and debts being sent to collections."

Brann added the goal of the criminal justice system is to address behavior not put them in a financial hole.

“This bill keeps the focus on compliance with a reasonable requirement for paying fees that nearly every offender can afford, rather than seeking to interfere with the finances of the offender,” Brann said.

The bill is before the House Judiciary Committee.

One parolee who was not paying the costs of his tethers was Joshua M. Rosebush, accused of shooting Saginaw Township Police Officer Jeff Koenig after skipping parole.

Rosebush had been placed on GPS and alcohol-monitoring tethers, which would have meant he was to pay $16.50 per day, Gautz said.

“He then lost his job, but claimed he was looking for work but could never find (a job),” Gautz said. “His parole agent then required him to bring in a log of the applications he submitted to find work. Each week he was required to have 14.”

According to the MDOC, Rosebush had made no monitoring payments and owed $1,972.

On Jan. 3, police allege Rosebush cut off the two tethers. In the early morning hours of Jan. 22, police allege he twice shot Koenig with a stolen pistol after the officer pulled him over for driving without his headlights on in Saginaw County’s Kochville Township. Unbeknownst to Koenig at the time, the vehicle Rosebush was driving was stolen, though its owner hadn’t yet reported it as such.

In an interview with police after his arrest in connection with the officer’s shooting, Rosebush said he has been in the criminal justice system since he was 16. He said he cut his tethers off after receiving letters from courts saying he owed money from prior cases and would be arrested if he didn’t pay.

Rosebush currently is in jail and faces trial in June in connection with the officer’s shooting.