- Reaction score
- 34
- Points
- 560
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070220/K022008AU.html
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The Dutch Justice Ministry is planning to test a new system to ensure prisoners do not slip away from their guards while on supervised parole - a knee brace that locks legs in a bend when they try to get away.
Justice Ministry spokesman Wim van der Weegen said the system could be compared with wheel clamps put on illegally parked cars. "But this is different because it's a flexible system," he said. "If the prisoner sticks to the rules, he won't notice it. But if he disobeys, then he can't run away."
Criminals who have escaped while on supervised parole and then committed serious crimes - including murder - have plagued Dutch justice system for years.
Under public pressure, parliament ordered the ministry to examine ways of keeping such prisoners under control.
Other ideas studied included injecting prisoners with sedatives or using electric shocks to stop them from getting away. But the options were rejected as too intrusive, van der Weegen said.
The system under development works by sending an electric impulse that cramps a prisoner's leg muscles automatically if the prisoner gets too far away from the guard.
Testing of the new system is expected to begin later this year after parliamentary approval.
