Prisoner Training: Austin Kids To Be Tracked With GPS Device

08-27-2012 • http://www.prisonplanet.com, Paul Joseph Watson

Children in nine Austin high schools are to be given GPS tracking devices and assigned “mentors” in a program designed to prevent truancy yet one that also illustrates how kids are being treated like prison inmates.

“With parent permission, up to 1,700 students across eight high schools will be equipped with a GPS device that looks a lot like a cell phone. They will also be teamed up with a mentor who they have to check-in with using the device several times a day,” reports KXAN.

The program is being overseen by Dallas-based AIM Truancy Solutions. The company boasts that the system has boosted attendance figures at other high schools by around 12 per cent.

Nine Austin schools are currently part of the program as well as other schools in San Antonio, Dallas and La Joya.

The idea of tracking kids with GPS devices and forcing them to check in with a “mentor” is not far removed from prisoners being made to wear GPS ankle bracelets and being assigned parole officers.

AISD: GPS tracking to boost attendance