Nancy Salzman evidently had foot surgery on Friday anfter she got Judge Nicholas Garaufis’ consent to remove her ankle monitor.
Here is the letter that her lawyers submitted to the judge.
February 17, 2021
Dear Judge Garaufis:
I together with Robert Soloway represent Nancy Salzman in this matter. I write with the consent of AUSA Tanya Hajjar on behalf of the government to request a temporary modification of Ms. Salzman’s conditions of release to allow her to have foot surgery. Specifically, we ask that Ms. Salzman be allowed to remove her location monitoring bracelet on Friday, February 19, 2021, and have it replaced on Monday, February 22, 2021, or as soon thereafter as practicable.
Ms. Salzman has been subject to pre-trial supervision for approximately three years, and during that time has been fully compliant with her conditions of release. On February 19, 2021, she is scheduled to have foot surgery at Samaritan hospital. A letter to that effect is enclosed. Her surgery, which will be performed by Dr. Sam Dellengaugh, requires the removal of her ankle monitor. For this reason, we seek a temporary modification of her conditions of release allowing her to remove the ankle monitor on Friday, February 19, and have it replaced on Monday, February 21. This modification will allow her to have the needed surgery and will result in only a brief interruption of her location monitoring during which time, under any circumstances, she will be incapacitated. I am informed that Kendra Rennie, Ms. Salzman’s pre-trial officer consents to this request.
For the foregoing reasons, we seek the temporary modification of the conditions of release detailed above. If the Court has any questions regarding this application please contact my office
Respectfully submitted,
David Stern
***
The judge granted the application.
If the operation went off as planned, this means that Nancy is without an ankle monitor. The risk of her fleeing is probably slight. And if it is true that she was rendered immobile for a few days because of the surgery, it is a safe bet that on Monday or as soon as practical, Nancy will put the ankle monitor back on and wear it at least until she is sentenced (If she is not remanded at her sentencing hearing, she will likely have to continue wearing the ankle monitor until she reports to prison).
There is no date set for her sentencing as of yet.
Ankle monitors track a defendant’s location.
According to an article on NBCNews.com: entitled “Ankle monitors can hold captives in invisible jails of debt, pain and bugged conversations”, the foot surgery might be a welcome relief for Nancy and perhaps less painful than her ankle monitor.
A sub-headline of the NBC article is “Ankle monitors can hold captives in invisible jails of debt, pain and bugged conversations.”
… And they are doing more than just tracking their movements: They are draining their bank accounts, compromising their health, and even spying on them, which is why more safeguards against electronic monitoring abuses are urgently needed.
In 2005, Pew found that 53,000 Americans wore electronic monitoring devices. By 2015, the group found the number had grown to 125,000. There hasn’t been an official updated nationwide count since, but opponents of electronic monitoring believe it’s continued to soar…
The growth can also be seen in balance sheets: Electronic monitoring is one of the fastest-expanding sectors in the private prison industry. Take, for example, the Florida-based GEO Group, which reports that it alone is responsible for providing electronic monitoring devices for 100,00 people per year. Without any national guidelines or consensus, most police, probation and parole departments can set their own guidelines and choose their own brands of monitoring devices, with various feature options.
Not only are electronic monitoring devices being used more often, but they are also being used for increasingly minor cases, including misdemeanors and traffic violations. So rather than simply replacing confinement, electronic monitoring is becoming the norm for many defendants who would have previously been released into probation, on bail or even on their own recognizance. This is likely part of why electronic monitoring seems to be growing faster than the reduction in the prison and jail population…
Electronic monitoring compromises users’ privacy in many ways beyond tracking their location. One widely used electronic monitoring anklet has a feature that can record calls and conversations without users’ consent or knowledge. These devices raise profound Fourth and Fifth Amendment concerns when activated in this way, as they transform wearers into walking wiretaps — not only for capturing their own statements but potentially those of friends and family nearby…
Americans are not only being forced to wear government tracking devices in record numbers, they are also often forced to pay for the privilege, on top of their bail. One driver who was arrested after failing to signal reported being forced to pay $300 a month for a device rental fee on top of a $179.50 setup charge. The first month’s costs added up to more than half of his $900-a-month disability check. For many, electronic monitoring can become a debt trap…
[Some ankle monitors] have caused an array of medical complications, including everything from cuts and bruises and impaired circulation to electric shocks, hair loss, headaches and difficulty breathing. These devices are also highly visible, opening up wearers to discrimination by employers, law enforcement and members of the public. More than 1 in 5 of those on electronic monitoring report being fired or suspended from at least one job as a result.
One person’s account of having to wear an ankle monitor gives us an idea why it might be a relief for Nancy to get out of the ankle monitors for a few days. This person wrote this when he had been wearing an ankle monitor for 63 days. Nancy has been wearing an ankle monitor for three years:
By M.M.
I cannot sleep. There is a device on my leg.
It requires that I wake up an hour early so I can plug it into a charger and stand next to the outlet, like a cell phone charging up for the day. Not the day, actually, but 12 hours. After that, the device runs out of juice. Wherever I am, I have to find an outlet to plug myself into. If I don’t, I’m likely to be thrown back onto Rikers Island.
The device is my ankle bracelet, which I’ve now been wearing for 63 days. I wear it afraid that someone at work will notice the bulge. When I go to school, I worry my friends will spot it and leave me. I push it up into my jeans, hoping they won’t see. But the higher up I push it, the more it starts to hurt; most days, my feet go numb. I try wearing bell-bottoms…
I can no longer wear shorts. I cannot visit a beach without enduring public humiliation…
I have been alternating three pairs of pants for almost three months now — the only pants that can accommodate the device. When I’m with my co-workers, I stand out as the only person wearing jeans; dress slacks are too much of a risk, because when I sit down, pants like those hike up. …
Throughout the day, the device becomes heavier and more painful, causing me to bleed. I push it down on my ankle to let my blood circulate — but then the pain becomes unbearable, and I can’t plant my feet without crying out…
The device is, both literally and metaphorically, my greatest source of pain.
But every day I rise, stand by the socket, and charge my ankle to go to work.
