Washington, Jul 22, 2001 - GPS Treatment Services for Colorado

ROSELAND, NJ (July 22, 2001)--Community Education Centers (CEC) has been selected to provide monitoring and treatment services to parolees and to individuals who have been placed in the Intensive Supervision Program (ISP) by the State of Colorado.

CEC will be providing Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring as well as Outpatient Treatment, Day Reporting, Alcohol and Drug Testing services, and a variety of related treatment services focused on community reintegration. These services will be provided in a therapeutic context, which will include individual counseling, drug and alcohol education, life-skills training and relapse prevention services. Parole agents, in conjunction with clinical personnel at CEC sites, will decide the frequency of monitoring, as well as the length and type of treatment.

In addition to the GPS services that will be headquartered at Williams Street Center in Denver, services will also be provided at Community Alternatives of El Paso County, in Colorado Springs. One hundred individuals will initially participate, and it is anticipated that an additional one hundred participants will be added to the programs each year during the next five contract years.

CEC has extensive practical experience in administering Global Positioning System (GPS) and other electronic monitoring programs that are used in conjunction with substance abuse treatment and reintegration training.

CEC is excited about expanding its use of the GPS, a sophisticated tracking system that operates via a network of low-orbit satellites. These satellites, using radio signals in concert with a cellular telephone, GPS receiver and an ankle bracelet, can pinpoint an individual’s position within 100 feet. The GPS receiver and cell phone are located in a small, 4-pound box. The participant must carry, or remain within 600 feet of, the equipment. Failure to do so results in an alert being sent to the monitoring station. The equipment in the box communicates with satellites and provides individual location information on a map at the monitoring station. Geographical constraints may also be programmed into the system, with violations automatically alerting the monitoring station. This cell phone/satellite technology does not require a telephone line (as with former ankle-bracelets) and the participant may therefore have a job.

The monitoring approach used by GPS and Day Reporting permits participants to maintain employment while at the same time ensuring their compliance with parole and ISP conditions. CEC’s provision of alcohol and drug treatment services and reintegration training, presented in conjunction with intensive monitoring, provides participants with the resources they need to maintain a crime-free, drug-free lifestyle.