Can I do “House Arrest” instead of jail in Las Vegas?

House arrest in Nevada is a type of alternative sentencing that allows you to live at home instead of jail or prison while awaiting trial (“pretrial release”) or serving a sentence. During house arrest, you have to wear an electronic monitoring anklet.

Five key things to know about house arrest in Nevada are:

1. While on house arrest, you may have to submit to random alcohol and drug testing and warrantless searches.
2. Giving up your passports and firearms is usually another condition.
3. Depending on your case, you may be allowed to go to work, school, counseling, rehab, AA, court, doctor’s appointments, and other court-approved activities.
4. Violating your house arrest terms will result in you being remanded to jail or prison.
5. In Clark County, you are assigned to one of three Electronic Monitoring levels:

Monitoring Level	Restrictions
High Level	Remaining in the home at all times (with work/school/other exceptions approved by the court) No alcohol or drugs, plus drug testing No victim contact
Medium Level	No alcohol or drugs, plus drug testing No leaving Clark County without permission No victim contact Curfew Monthly office check-ins or home visits Restrictions on movement as decided by the court, including not going to casinos or the Strip Corridor You can go about normal daily activities, and having a residence is required.
Low Level	No alcohol or drugs, plus drug testing during check-ins or home visits No leaving Clark County without permission Monthly office check-ins You do not have a curfew (unless you are a juvenile), and you can move freely within Clark County unless the court says otherwise. It is also not required that you have a residence.

In this article, our Las Vegas criminal defense attorneys answer these questions:

• 1. When can I get house arrest?
• 2. How does it work?
• 3. Am I eligible?
• 4. What if I violate the terms?
• 5. How much does it cost?
• 6. Can I have a cell phone?
• 7. Can I drink on house arrest?
• Government Resources
• Additional Reading

1. When can I get house arrest?

In Nevada, a judge may impose house arrest at one of two points during a criminal case:

1. After you are arrested and awaiting trial. The typical scenario is that you can pay the required bail, but the criminal charges are too serious for you to have total freedom of travel.
2. When you are convicted, and the judge imposes a sentence. Judges may grant you house arrest instead of – or in addition to – prison. You are usually entered into the Nevada Department of Public Safety’s Intensive Supervision Program, which monitors you for the duration of the house arrest.

If a judge grants you house arrest, you can typically be released and put on house arrest that same day.¹

2. How does it work?

In Clark County, house arrest is typically referred to as the “Electronic Monitoring Program” (or EMP) because you are required to wear an electric monitoring device on your ankle that tracks your real-time location.

Note that when police say “house arrest,” they are typically referring just to High-Level EMP, as opposed to Medium- or Low Level. That is because High-Level EMP is the only level requiring you to remain in your residence for most of the time.

While under house arrest you may go only to and from the court-approved locations and nowhere else unless the court allows otherwise. You cannot even stop somewhere that is on the way.

Types of Tracking Devices

Most people on electronic monitoring are outfitted with a GPS active tracking tether, which relies on satellite technology to track your location and transmit it to the police at regular intervals. Police can also program “no-zones” into the anklet (called “geofencing”), and they are notified when you venture into an excluded location.

“GPS Passive trackers” are similar to the active tracker. The main difference is that passive trackers do not transmit the information in real-time; instead, they save your information, and the police or probation officers can access it later on.

3. Am I eligible?

Whether you can remain out of custody on house arrest depends on the case and the underlying charges or convictions. Obviously, Nevada judges favor you if you:

• are cooperative,
• are non-violent,
• have a minimal criminal history, and
• are not a flight risk.

Your attorney usually has to request house arrest and then convince the judge that you deserve it and will abide by the rules. Sometimes a parole board recommends you for house arrest.

4. What if I violate the terms?

Law enforcement receives an alert if you even tamper with your anklet, break curfew or go near prohibited areas (called “exclusion zones” such as a victim’s home). You then risk losing house arrest privileges and being sent to jail or Nevada State Prison.

If the equipment merely malfunctioned or you had an innocent accident, the judge might not impose any punishment.²

The following graphic shows some of the common house arrest conditions.

5. How much does it cost?

In Las Vegas Municipal Court, house arrest costs $12 a day, plus a one-time $100 administrative fee.³

Law enforcement actually prefers house arrest to incarceration because it is less work and less costly for them.

6. Can I have a cell phone?

You need a landline or a cell phone in order to go onto electronic monitoring in the first place in Nevada. However, the judge may restrict who you can communicate with and whether you can access the internet.

7. Can I drink on house arrest?

If you are on house arrest in Nevada, you must abstain from alcohol.

You may be required to wear a SCRAM ( Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor) device, which measures your alcohol concentration on an hourly basis through the skin (called “transdermal monitoring”). If the SCRAM detects alcohol, it will notify law enforcement.

Breathalyzers

In some cases, the judge may require that you keep a breathalyzer monitor to breathe into on demand. These devices also photograph you during the test to deter you from cheating.

In DUI cases, you may need to install an ignition interlock device (IID) in your car as a condition of being able to drive. The IID is a breathalyzer attached to your steering wheel, and it disables your car if it detects alcohol on your breath.

Government Resources

For more detailed information on specific house arrest programs, refer to these official local, state, and federal government websites:

• Clark County: House Arrest – Detailed questions-and-answers on how the Clark County Detention Center “electronic monitoring program” works.
• Washoe County: House Arrest/ Electronic Monitoring – Explanation of how defendants in Washoe County can remain out of custody on bail or on probation while being electronically monitored.
• Nevada State Police Parole and Probation: Residential Confinement – Overview of various electronic monitoring protocols for Nevada State Prison parolees and probationers.
• Nevada State Police Parole and Probation: Pre-Release Unit – Overview of how some Nevada State Prison inmates get transferred to residential confinement programs that require electronic monitoring.
• United States Probation Office District of Nevada: Location Monitoring – Guide to how federal defendants on probation in Nevada may remain out of prison with electronic monitoring.

Additional Reading

For more general information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Home as Prison: The Use of House Arrest – Federal Probation.
• Between the ‘Home’ and ‘Institutional’ Worlds: Tensions and Contradictions in the Practice of House Arrest – Critical Criminology.
• House Arrest: A Critical Analysis of an Intermediate-Level Penal Sanction – University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
• A Brief History of House Arrest and Electronic Monitoring – Northern Kentucky Law Review.
• Exploring the Option of House Arrest – Federal Probation.

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Legal References