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Michael Matthews was sleeping in his brother’s basement early one November morning. He had no idea the Cook County sheriff’s office thought he was somewhere else \u2014 and that he would soon be sent to jail for it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Matthews says he never left his brother\u2019s basement in Hazel Crest without prior authorization \u2014 and says he has<\/span> video evidence of himself inside at the time of some of the allegations. But he was reincarcerated at Cook County Jail in December, when a sheriff\u2019s report, citing GPS data from his ankle bracelet, indicated he had left the residence 15 times.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Wednesday, an assistant Cook County state\u2019s attorney said in court there is evidence that \u201cdirectly contradicts\u201d the allegations that Matthews violated his home confinement and asked that he be allowed to return to a family member\u2019s home on electronic monitoring. Matthews, his attorney said, needlessly spent more than three months locked up in Cook County Jail.<\/span><\/p>\n Matthews\u2019 release from jail and return to electronic monitoring came after reporters with the DePaul Center for Journalism Integrity & Excellence began reporting on his case and filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the sheriff\u2019s office for public records.<\/span><\/p>\n At the time, Matthews, a former city employee and father of six, was among the 2,500 people in Cook County awaiting trial on the sheriff\u2019s electronic monitoring program. Electronic monitoring is a system through which the Cook County sheriff\u2019s office tracks people awaiting trial using a GPS-based ankle bracelet.<\/span> Some in the legal justice field have raised concerns about the technology\u2019s ability to accurately track participants\u2019 whereabouts \u2014 especially in some indoor and urban settings.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Matthews and his attorney, Tracey Harkins, the 15 alleged violations came after months of issues with his ankle monitor alerting authorities he had left his residence while he was at home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got alerted the first time, I talked with dispatch, and I thought it was maybe a small issue,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cWell, it happened two more times. So, at that point, I contacted my lawyer and I say, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m having some kind of issues where I\u2019m home [and] I\u2019m getting alerts.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Matthews faces seven charges, including murder, in connection with a shooting outside of a River North nightclub in 2019. He has never been convicted of a crime. Prior to his arrest, he lived in North Lawndale with his family and operated a nonprofit called Endless Energy Sports that taught kids basketball as a means to stay out of trouble.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people are suffering because of my situation,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cMy family leaned on me \u2026 I was the bulk of the financial portion of our household. My wife has to work midnights just so she can be available to \u2026 [the] children. She\u2019s mentally drained out from working 12-hour, night shifts, trying to pay the bills, keep the lights and everything on.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A pattern of problems<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis one case is not an anomaly,\u201d said Radiance Ward, a Cook County assistant public defender who represents people on electronic monitoring. \u201cIt is something that happens enough where we need to address it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ward and her colleagues at the public defenders\u2019 office have represented defendants experiencing issues with their ankle monitors alerting authorities while they are within their homes, often risking reincarceration or disruption to their daily lives. Ward, however, has no affiliation with Matthews\u2019 case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe responsibility is on us as the defense attorney, or on the client, to show that they were indeed in the home,\u201d Ward said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After allegations of Matthews tampering with his ankle monitor, his brother, Walter, decided to take matters into his own hands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe decided to get a camera and put a camera in the basement to monitor, to make sure that any event that they call against him, that he wasn\u2019t home, that he\u2019d be able to prove that he was home,\u201d Walter Matthews said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Matthews said he tried to stay in view of the lens at all times, even sleeping on a recliner chair.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe only time that I left from the front of the camera was to take a shower and use the washroom,\u201d Matthews said in a Zoom interview from Cook County Jail.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The camera captured time-stamped footage of Matthews in the basement for seven of the 15 alleged violations. At the time of two of the alleged violations, Matthews is seen on his laptop, inches from the camera. During the time of another, a Wednesday afternoon, he is running on a treadmill. During one, Nov. 17 from 3:39 a.m. to 4:09 a.m., he is asleep in his recliner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Matthews\u2019 home camera system automatically deletes footage after 30 days.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf Michael Matthews had been afforded the opportunity and been put on reasonable notice that the state and the Cook County sheriff\u2019s office were going to make these allegations against him, he would have been able to provide [additional] footage,\u201d Harkins said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At a Cook County Circuit Court hearing in December, Judge Peggy Chiampas revoked Matthews\u2019 bond and he was sent back to jail. Harkins asserts that she presented the videos that showed Matthews at home at the time of the violations to the court. But Chiampas, Harkins said, refused to view them before ordering Matthews back into custody.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A court spokesperson said Chiampas is prohibited from commenting on pending cases.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Reliance on GPS technology<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n In the county\u2019s electronic monitoring program administered by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart\u2019s office, defendants wear an ankle monitor equipped with GPS and cellular tower tracking technology which alerts authorities when its wearer moves outside of their permitted boundary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe system itself, it alerts us when people move \u2026 And then when there is a movement that they\u2019re not supposed to do, we contact people to see if there\u2019s a reasonable explanation. If not, then we send cars over there,\u201d Dart said at an event with Illinois state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz on Facebook Live in January.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sheriff\u2019s deputies suspected Matthews of tampering with his ankle monitor and issued him a written warning on July 14. Deputies tested Matthews\u2019 ankle monitor in the basement of his brother\u2019s home and determined it was working properly, according to Cook County sheriff\u2019s documents obtained through a public records request.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat seemed to form a basis of legitimacy for the allegations, in the mind of the state as well as the sheriff,\u201d Harkins said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One alleged violation, on Nov. 9, during which Matthews is captured on home video footage on his laptop, places him darting between his brother\u2019s home, neighboring addresses and houses across the subdivision between 1:33 and 1:46 a.m.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe addresses may reflect his host site address; however, the GPS device places him outside of his residence,\u201d reads the entry on Matthews\u2019 electronic monitoring progress report from this date, obtained from a public records request to the Cook County sheriff\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ankle monitors rely on GPS and cell tower technology to determine if its wearer\u2019s location is within the range mandated by the court. Urban and indoor areas can interfere with the technology, affecting its ability to pinpoint the bracelet\u2019s exact location.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe analogy I use is if you\u2019re ever trying to get directions, when you\u2019re coming out of the grocery store, or the shopping mall, and you\u2019re parked in a parking garage or an underground structure, the map is going to have no idea where you are,\u201d said Jordan Boulger, executive assistant for administration and research with the Cook County Adult Probation Department. \u201cSo, there are known situations where GPS can be a little unreliable.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Track Group, the company contracted by Cook County to provide ankle bracelets and examine alerts from the devices, has provided these devices to Cook County since 2017. Their products are marketed as a \u201creliable location tracking device,\u201d as stated on their website. Track Group declined to comment, deferring to the Cook County sheriff\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Sheriff\u2019s Office utilizes the latest GPS technology available. Of course, we understand that GPS technology is not always 100% accurate,\u201d Dart said in a statement to CJIE. \u201cThat is why we ensure staff are appropriately trained, and we employ a review system to account for the potential for technology problems.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dart added that staff who review issues with the electronic monitors are trained to differentiate between the issues with the technology and when there could be a potential violation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With its known limitations, Cassie Follett, DePaul University\u2019s geographic information systems coordinator, contends that the most important aspect of GPS tracking is interpreting the device\u2019s data, including watching for signs of GPS drift.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere are not technologies mature enough for indoor tracking for legal use,\u201d Follett said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Follett examined Matthews\u2019 alleged movements on Oct. 5, which show him traveling across the street, through the backyard of a neighboring home and back to his brother\u2019s house within four minutes. She said the signal quality data \u2014 coupled with the distance and time period \u2014 seemed to show a drift in his GPS tracking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFor a brief second, it was acknowledged to be a lower quality, because it went from high to medium, it drifts,\u201d Follet said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The monitoring data reports the signal quality between the device and satellites as high, medium, or low. The first and final markers of this report, both near his brother\u2019s house, show a high satellite signal, while the middle point \u2013 the furthest away from his brother\u2019s house \u2013 fluctuates to a medium signal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Follett said that the data in this instance shows the GPS signal correcting itself, placing Matthews back at his brother\u2019s house.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Back in court<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Ultimately, it is the judge\u2019s decision to review documents from the sheriff and determine whether a defendant on electronic monitoring is sent back to jail. In court on Wednesday, when Matthews was returned to electronic monitoring, Judge Chiampas made her displeasure known when she emphatically said it is \u201cnot for individuals charged with murder.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A judge\u2019s decision in placing people on electronic monitoring is largely dependent on the defendant\u2019s perceived risk level to the community, according to David Olson, co-director of the Center for Criminal Justice Research, Policy and Practice at Loyola University.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEverything about the justice system in terms of decisions tends to be risk averse,\u201d Olson said. \u201cWhat do we do to minimize risk? Not only risk politically, to the elected officials who are responsible for these decisions, but risk to the community.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The pretrial services division of the probation department conducts a public safety assessment on every person charged with a felony in Cook County. In doing so, the department assesses the defendant\u2019s criminal history and conducts interviews to understand the context of their case. The whole assessment is then presented to a judge, the state\u2019s attorney and the public defender.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a really tricky balancing act that the judges have to do, maintaining public safety while also protecting the rights of the defendant,\u201d Boulger said.<\/span><\/p>\n In a statement released after Matthews was returned to electronic monitoring Wednesday, the sheriff\u2019s office said it prioritizes public safety \u201cin every aspect of its operations.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>The court ordered Mr. Matthews to electronic monitoring for his murder case, and prosecutors requested information regarding his compliance on the program. The Sheriff\u2019s Office provided comprehensive information regarding Mr. Matthews\u2019 compliance. The state independently elected to proceed with a motion to revoke his bail, which they have now declined to pursue under their prosecutorial discretion,\u201d the statement reads.\u00a0 \u201cWe will continue to work with Mr. Matthews to conform to the judge\u2019s orders in this case as he is released back on electronic monitoring per the judge\u2019s order for the underlying murder case. The Sheriff\u2019s Office works hard to manage an electronic monitoring program with hundreds of defendants facing violent charges in a way that is accountable to the court, fair to the defendant and best promotes public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Matthews is clear that he is not looking for sympathy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI just want to get it right \u2026 I want to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen to the next person,\u201d he said in a February Zoom interview.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In court on Wednesday, he thanked the judge upon learning he will once again be placed on electronic monitoring. He will now go to live in the south suburbs with his sister and stay in a family room, and not a basement.<\/span><\/p>\n