EUREKA, Ill. — A classroom debate over just how tough house arrest is has prompted a criminal justice professor at a central Illinois college to come up with what is a punishing assignment.
Eureka College professor William Lally is offering willing students the chance to wear GPS ankle bracelets for a weekend, during which they are not allowed to stray more than 100 feet from their homes.
Some are finding that home confinement is harder than they thought.
“It was kind of depressing being in my room by myself,” said sophomore David Flores of Joliet. “I might as well be in a prison cell.”
One or two students have signed up each weekend this semester to have the GPS monitors locked to their ankles on Friday afternoon, the (Bloomington) Pantagraph reported.
Their home confinement lasts 60 hours, from Friday night until their next class at 10 a.m. on Monday. During that time, the students are also barred from drinking alcohol and have to agree to surprise visits from their teacher and police with a portable breath monitor.
Violations result in a drop of two letter grades on their assigned paper. So far, only one student has been caught breaking the rules.
