Harris County Commissioners Court approved $1.4 million on Thursday, September 17, to put ankle monitor supervision on a 24 hour schedule. The money funds 15 positions inside the county’s pretrial services division, according to the office of Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who brought the item forward.
ABC13 reports that hiring and training are expected to run from October through the end of this year, with around-the-clock monitoring beginning in 2027. The push followed a case in which a defendant awaiting trial on a murder charge cut off his ankle monitor and left the country in the weeks before his trial date.
The item matters in the Lake Houston area because pretrial supervision is a countywide service. Residents of Atascocita, Huffman, Summerwood and Fall Creek live in unincorporated Harris County and are served directly by the county’s criminal justice agencies, and Kingwood sits inside both the city of Houston and Harris County.
