Conn. to track 200 paroled burglars

Paroled burglars Joshua Komisarjevsky, 27, and Steven Hayes, 44, were caught fleeing from the burning house, and face charges including capital felony, which could carry the death sentence.

On Aug. 2, the state Department of Correction began fitting all parolees out on first- and second-degree burglary convictions with radio frequency electronic monitoring devices, said Stacy Smith, a department spokeswoman. By the end of September, those will be upgraded to the more expensive GPS devices, she said.

The electronic monitors notify authorities when a parolee leaves a designated area, but the GPS systems will allow the state to find out exactly where they have been, Smith said.

There are 210 people convicted of first- or second-degree burglary currently "released into the community" at halfway houses, transitional housing, or on parole, Smith said.

Smith said it would be impossible to gauge how much money the increased monitoring will cost in the long term, because the number of offenders on parole fluctuates as more are paroled and others complete their terms. Using the current figures, once all parolees are monitored using GPS devices, the cost would be $456,067 per year.

Judges sometimes order convicts to pay for the cost of their monitoring once released on parole or probation, but Smith said the state is paying the tab to monitor the paroled burglars.