Sentinel Offender Services

Lawsuits

In 2012, James Hucks filed suit against Sentinel Offender Services after an arrest warrant was issued for his wife because she did not pay all the fees she owed to the company during her probation. In 2013, Georgia judge Daniel J. Craig ruled that Sentinel had to refund hundreds, and possibly thousands, of people who had paid them, and that private probation companies cannot collect fees from probationers after their probation has expired. Later that year, Craig granted Sentinel a stay on this ruling, but, despite their attempts to persuade him to back down on it, refused to undo his restrictions. In 2012, Georgia man Tom Barrett stole a can of beer and was later put on probation with Sentinel after being unable to pay a US$200 fine. He was later put in jail for two months after being unable to pay Sentinel's startup fee. As of May 2015, Barrett was suing Sentinel, and was being represented by Augusta attorney Jack Long. On February 17, 2016, the Southern Center for Human Rights filed a lawsuit against Sentinel on behalf of two women from Cleveland, Georgia who were sentenced to 12 months probation each for not paying fines; the lawsuit also claims both women were told they had to undergo drug tests by a probation officer.

Monitoring technology controversies

In June 2013, Orange County, California discovered that Sentinel's GPS and home detention systems had multiple technical problems, which led the county to cancel their contract with Sentinel. That September, an internal audit by Los Angeles County found that one in four of the Sentinel-made ankle monitors used to monitor serious criminals were faulty. Sentinel attributed many of these problems to errors by county deputies.