Hi, I'm Charlie Roadman, Austin criminal defense attorney and if you're watching this, you've probably been ordered to get a SCRAM device. So I want to tell you a little bit about what it's like and hopefully make the experience a little bit less painful just by giving you some knowledge about what to expect.

Okay, I'm here to pick up my ankle monitor or get it installed. I have a little bit of dread about it.

I got it.

Let me give you a little context to where the SCRAM device fits in on the different levels of alcohol monitoring that are common in the court system. The first level is the ignition interlock device, and that's typically with a first DWI or something like that, but that doesn't prevent people from drinking when they're not trying to drive their car. Now, the next level up from that is the portable alcohol monitor and that's when the judge wants the person to not drink at all. And this portable alcohol monitor, you have to blow into four times a day to prove you're not drinking. However, that's a little tricky people, skip steps. They skip blows. They also lose it or whatever, but it's tricky.

Now, if the person can't do the portable alcohol monitor, the next level up is the SCRAM device. And that is... No one does anything. It's just on their ankle, permanently testing for alcohol. Now, if there's a problem with that, if the judge is detecting positive alcohol, the fourth level is county jail. There's no other alcohol monitoring system left. It's just going to jail.

Okay, I've returned to the SCRAM device place because I think maybe it's too tight. All right. The answer is that this is right. That's about as loose... I got again...

I can spin it around there. This is like the least painful spot right here.

All right, I'm going to see if I can go running.

It also measures your temperature so that you can't put something down in between it to block it and you can't take it off or rather you can cut it off, but that's a violation. And they tell me that they charge me $175 if I cut it off.

All right, they say you can take a shower without any covering it or anything so we'll see how that goes.

Well, I'm not trying to beat the system. I mean as a defense attorney I represent the clients, but our best result is going to be, if my clients comply with the rules, now I may sympathize with them that the rules are tricky or hard, or maybe, and sometimes not fair. But even if the rule isn't fair, I still want you to comply with it because that's what gets us the best result in your case.

Without that wrap, it was hitting my ankle here and here.

And so tomorrow I'm going to go to get taken off. I don't think there's anything more for me to learn about what it's like. So the pain, it reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Lawrence of Arabia. I'm no Lawrence...

Michael:

You'll do that once too often, it's only flesh and blood.

Speaker 3:

Michael George Hartley, you're a philosopher.

Speaker 5:

And you're balmy!

Speaker 5:

Oh, it damn well hurts!

Michael:

Certainly, it hurts.

Speaker 5:

Well, what's the trick, then?

Michael:

The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.

Charlie Roadman:

All right. So I'm a few minutes away of getting my ankle monitor off. I am very excited about this. Some final thoughts first it's way better than being in jail. I'm sure. If the choice is this ankle monitor or jail, I know what I would choose. Pretty uncomfortable, I mean, occasionally I would forget about it, but I would be reminded fairly quickly. I'm not here to complain about the devices other than to say engineers and justice system, please create better devices. These are old technology and I think we can do better.

I hope this video has been useful. I will say that I have seen these devices change people's lives. I mean, people that were in crisis due to alcohol, and then this device, they have it on and they stop drinking for good, for real. And they've made incredible strides in their life. The period of sobriety has really helped them. So if that's the situation with you or, or someone you love, I hope that's the case. Anyway, I hope this has been a useful video.