Have you found yourself in the unfortunate circumstance requiring you to wear a SCRAM alcohol monitor ankle bracelet? I’m Alex, and as part of my probation following an OVI, I have been court ordered to wear this device tethered to my ankle for 90 days. I will be documenting my experience with this anklet in an attempt to help others that may find themselves in the same boat know what to expect.
This device measures your BAC, or blood alcohol concentration, through a sensor in the monitor that is directly in constant contact with your skin. It essentially reads your perspiration vapors, about every 30 minutes (you’ll hear an audible noise/feel a vibration), and records the results, which are stored inside the box on your ankle. Your results are automatically uploaded to the company you’ve leased your device from daily so long as you are within 10-15 feet of the home base, which works off of cell phone tower pings, at the scheduled download time. For me, this is 2 a.m., and will occur while I’m sleeping. My home base is plugged in and resting on the bottom of my bedroom nightstand.
While you’re wearing this monitor you may not consume alcohol of any kind, nor are you able to use or possess any products that contain alcohol of any kind. This includes but is not limited to: mouthwash, medicinal alcohol, household cleaners, lotions, body washes, colognes/perfumes, hair gel/spray, or other hygiene products like toothpaste, floss, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, make up, etc. And when you start examining labels it becomes shocking and scary to discover how many items you use on a daily basis that contain some sort of alcohol. (
https://www.scramsystems.com/frequently-asked-questions/)
Unfortunately there is a lot of conflicting information on the internet about these monitors and their purported false positives and inaccuracy. The company that makes the devices maintains they have a near 0% fail rate. One blog I read was of a lady that wore the anklet for close to a year and proclaims (although she did not advocate for it and advised to use your own discretion) she ended up using all of her same hygiene products as usual (some of course contained a kind of alcohol) and had no alerts. She steadfast maintains as long as you don’t actually drink alcohol that you’ll be alright. (
http://allisonsankles.blogspot.com)
It’s hard to know what to believe. Did the people that found themselves in more trouble really in fact consume and they’re lying to cover it up or does the device really make mistakes? To make matters worse, there is no approved list of products ANYWHERE that are deemed safe for you to use.
Going without consuming alcohol is perfectly fine with me and I won’t have a problem with that. I have no desire to find a way to attempt to fool the device and land myself in even more hot water. It is my want to fulfill this last court ordered requirement without any hiccups and move on with my life. Given all of the difference in information I’ve studied prior to wearing this anklet, I must admit, I’m absolutely terrified of setting off an alert and ending up wearing the monitor even longer, or worse, going to jail.
The company has assured me that while you are not supposed to possess or use any products that contain alcohol that they can tell the difference in an episode of actual consumption versus environmental alcohol (for example, me spraying hairspray to set my hair). This is because an environmental alcohol will trigger a spike, a quick high followed by a quick low, on the monitor. A drinking event will slowly move up, plateau and then slowly fall over a much longer period of time as your body metabolizes the alcohol. Now, perhaps they understand you may sometimes unknowingly expose yourself to something and some products are REALLY difficult to find that are completely alcohol free. Just understand if you choose to use it this is technically considered a “tampering” violation of it sets off an alert. Tampering can also be putting ANYTHING in between the device and your skin. You may not even mean to do this. Your sock could ride up, or the sheets could tangle when you sleep. It’s still considered a violation and an attempt to alter the device’s readings.
So, let’s talk about violations. Here’s the big problem. You are not notified immediately of an alert that results in a violation. While your data is downloaded daily, the company only reads that data about every 24 hours. If they see an alert it’s reported to your probation officer. They have 24 hours to notify you. By that time, you won’t have any way to prove that you were not drinking, as all alcohol, if you had consumed, would be metabolized out of your body at that point. You’ve already been in the court system for a drinking related issue, so it’s hard to believe they will buy any story you feed them, even when it’s the absolute truth. Violations can range from a warning, to extension of wearing the device, to jail.
I will be writing about my plan while on this monitor: where I go, what I do, the products I use and the results. My hope is that I can perhaps make this easier for someone else that may have to wear this device. My experience is just that - my very own. I do not guarantee anything that I do will work for you. I’m not advising you on how to proceed if you’re using this device. I did replace as many of my products as possible (I will fully document everything I use), but I will be honest; some things have proven next to impossible to find one without some kind of alcohol in it. I’m going to take comfort in the fact that as long as I don’t drink alcohol (and I won’t!) and don’t use products with obvious red flags on the label (I’ll explain what I mean by that on an upcoming products entry), I’ll be okay.
First things first! Cost. This anklet is not cheap. I do travel out of town for work, so I needed a device that the base can be taken with me in order to maintain my daily uploads. That was a few bucks extra. The one time installation fee was $100.00 and my device is $14.00/day, roughly $420.00 a month. The tech came to my home and installed the home base and fitted my left ankle with the device this morning. The tech made sure to tell me that while you should be able to get a finger between the bracelet and your skin (DO NOT do this on the side where the box is that takes the readings - that MUST remain against your skin at all times, otherwise it’s considered a tamper violation), it should be quite fitted. The device is larger than I expected but not as heavy as I had imagined. I am able to rotate mine (it’s on my left ankle) from having the large box on the outside, around to the inside. I would not recommend playing with it, but if it’s uncomfortable, or to sleep, or to wash appropriately, you may need to move it - very carefully.
It does make an audible sound and vibrates every 30 minutes when it takes a reading. Some people have complained it’s really loud. I’ve found so far I really don’t notice the noise, it’s really akin to the sound your cell phone would make if the sound was off but vibration was on and the phone was sitting on a table. It’s really only able to be heard if it’s dead silent in the room. After the first couple times, I stopped noticing the sound or the feeling. Most of the day, I forgot it was even there. I simply went on about my day. I did get the stink eye at the park from other adults when I was there with my children. I just crossed my legs the opposite direction and pulled my pant leg lower. Loose clothing is advisable, no leggings or hosiery. Socks must be low cut or pulled up over the device.
It tends to ride on your ankle bone and it does start to hurt. I’m anticipating this will ease over time. My bigger complaint is that my ankle swelled pretty decently today from wearing it and being on my feet all day (it tends to rise up the more active you are) and I’ve already developed a nasty mark and was not able to rotate the bracelet any longer on my ankle due to the swelling. The larger box itself (that actually takes the readings) isn’t really bothering me. It’s the clip on the band (opposite the larger box) that is digging into my leg. I’ve tried to move the bracelet down further on my leg to alleviate that and sat with my leg up as much as I could after dinner to help with the swelling.
Tonight, the very first evening I had the anklet, my daughter, who is almost 15 and super into makeup, hauled some of her products into my room and was sitting at my vanity trying various things. I was sitting on the floor beside her sorting through some items of my own when SPRAY, SPRAY, SPRAY!!! she had used a bottle of finishing mist that I knew had alcohol in it (it belongs to her, I used to use it but replaced it with one for myself that doesn’t contain alcohol in anticipation of wearing this bracelet). You would’ve thought someone set me on fire! I jumped up and ran out of the room. I felt so bad for her, as soon as she saw the horror on my face and felt the wind rustle from my sprint down the steps she realized what happened and she shouted “Mom, I’m so sorry, I forgot!” It’s not her fault, I wasn’t mad at all, more like waiting for a police car to come screeching up and take me off to the pokey. This is just going to take some getting used to. I decided it was better to be safe than sorry and I went out to my car (I have an Intoxalock breathalyzer installed on the ignition switch) and blew into it. I wasn’t going anywhere but I wanted it on record that I blew a 0.00 BAC on camera after that alcohol was sprayed into the air near me.
I decided to take a shower since a bath is out of the question and washing was really easy. I just used body wash and the sprayer from the shower and got all around the monitor and my skin. I washed and conditioned my hair and shaved. I could not get the razor anywhere near where I needed to for certain spots near the device. Perhaps I’ll figure that out in time. Exiting the shower, I was not able to dry this at all. It may have been due to the unusual amount of swelling today. I did set my hair dryer to cool and low and used it for a bit as best I could but it’s really difficult when you can’t lift the device away from your skin to dry that area. It’s not a good idea to leave it wet as you will develop a skin infection from poor hygiene with these anklets. I put on my nightly facial serums and body lotion, brushed my teeth. Just to be safe, I ran out to the car again and blew into my Intoxalock. I know, I’m probably being overly paranoid but I’d rather do that than be falsely accused and unable to defend myself in 48 hours time. I thought that Intoxalock was the end of the world when it was installed (no, not for the purpose, but because of the expense) but now I’m actually grateful it’s there. It may save my ass in the event these devices are as error riddled as reported.
