House Arrest, SEC (Secure Electronic Monitoring), Ankle Bracelet Alternatives to Jail

Supervised Electronic Confinement SEC House Arrest, also known as SEC (Secure Electronic Confinement), which involves the use of an Ankle Bracelet, can be an alternative to jail in Orange County.

What is SEC?

The SEC (Secure Electronic Confinement) program is a program used in Orange County Courts for defendants that would otherwise face jail. It is used by criminal defense attorneys in Orange County, our Orange County DUI Attorney, other private defense counsel, judges, Orange County Probation, and the Orange County jail, to avoid jail sentences for qualified individuals.

You can apply for Supervised Electronic Confinement SEC House Arrest using the Orange County form at this link. That form requires that you follow all of the rules below as part of the application:

Your application must be completed in Black Ink;
You must include a copy of a Drivers License, Social Security Card, Birth Certificate (or Certificate of Naturalization);
You must include on the form a hand-drawn diagram of your home (floor plan)
A Copy of the Drivers License of all adults living in the residence must be included;
Copy of your of home phone bill showing telephone number and address must be submitted;
Three recent paycheck stubs, or a letter from employer indicating length of employment, work hours, and hourly pay;
For those with a current Driver License they will need proof of current auto registration & proof of auto insurance; and
If someone else will provide transportation; the applicant must provide other drivers registration & insurance information.

Who is Approved for SEC?

Admittance into the SEC program is not a 100% guarantee. Quite often when you are saying yes to SEC, you are saying yes to jail and only being offered an opportunity to apply for SEC. Many clients will not be admitted into the SEC program because of their past convictions, probation violations, violent offenses, drug convictions and theft convictions. There really does not seem to be any solid guarantees that a person will get approved for SEC, although the guidelines for exclusion are fairly well known, so if you are not one of a category of people that are usually prevented from SEC, you would have a higher than average chance of being approved.

The process for a SEC application is quite extensive and starts with filling out the comprehensive application mentioned above and submitting it to probation. This process, according to the Orange County probation department, and in the experience of our Orange County DUI Lawyer, takes about six weeks to get an answer.

Bypassing probation, and having the judge directly on board with sentencing to house arrest is an option, as more providers of electronic home monitoring (known as Supervised Electronic Confinement (SEC) in Orange County) allow such credits without a court order. This is true with LCA Services and Diversified Monitoring Systems, which are the authorized providers for the SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring), GPS tracking and drug patch monitoring systems in most of the southern California Counties.

Who is Not Approved for SEC?

SEC has been denied to persons for the following reasons, which is not a comprehensive listing:

Anyone under age 21;
Anyone who has non-removable body piercings
Any violent crimes or a PC 148 (resisting arrest) on one’s record
The words, or checkbox, “NO SEC” on the guilty plea form
You live more than 50 miles from the jail
Failures to appear of any kind

In our experience as Orange County DUI Attorneys, we have found that clients do not find out they are denied until the week they are to report for jail. This only gives the attorney and the client one or two days to drop everything and appeal the denial decision for SEC.

And yes, there is an appeal process for those that are denied. You can appeal the SEC decision if you request an appeal hearing after you are denied SEC. Or, you can ask the judge for resentencing, to have the judge to substitute DMS and SCRAM monitor you for home confinement.

In order for this to happen, you must first be denied by probation for the SEC program. Then you may request to use SCRAM, through one of the many Orange County SCRAM providers, or The MOST Program or GPS as an alternative. By using SCRAM, The MOST Program or GPS the same products that are used in SEC are used to monitor you for home confinement. In some cases, it is actually less expensive compared to SEC.

What does SEC cost?

The cost is on a sliding scale, based upon the amount of supervision, and the income of the applicant.

Where does one go to get SEC?

There are several providers in Orange County that contract with the county to provide SEC to the County of Orange. Those include Sentencing Concepts Inc., Diversified Monitoring, and others.

Our Orange County DUI attorneys have experience getting clients, especially those with second time DUI cases, into the SEC program, and avoiding all jail time. If you need our assistance and expertise in this regard, please contact our firm or call us at (877) 989-8789.