A federal probation officer says Channel 10 reporter Jim Taricani will discover that the terms of his probation are "definitely not a treat."

09:23 AM EST on Wednesday, December 15, 2004

BY EDWARD FITZPATRICK
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Home confinement can sound like a pretty good deal -- a chance to catch up on reading, install some new shelves and avoid living with a bunch of criminals.

So some thought Channel 10 reporter Jim Taricani lucked out last week when he was sentenced to six months of probation, on home confinement, for refusing to divulge the source of a secret FBI videotape, which showed a top City Hall official taking a bribe.

But home confinement can be highly stressful and disruptive, according to federal probation officials. And in Taricani's case, Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres imposed the highest level of home confinement -- called home incarceration -- while adding restrictions to make the sentence as much like being behind bars as possible.

While there's no legal restriction, the federal government generally does not place anyone on home confinement for more than six months because of the strain, said Barry J. Weiner, chief U.S. probation officer for Rhode Island.

"As a practical matter, six months is the maximum a person could tolerate," Weiner said. "It becomes extraordinarily difficult. Eventually, they break down and become distraught."

Taricani is not allowed to go outside of his North Kingstown home -- not to the barber, not to the market, not to the backyard, not to the curb to get the mail. He can seek medical care, but he can't work, use the Internet or appear on radio or television. He will have to constantly wear a strap around his ankle so that his movements can be monitored by a device connected to his phone.

So, while the idea of downtime at home might seem appealing amid society's frantic pace, Weiner said, "Home confinement is definitely not a treat. I don't know how many people have been trapped inside for a rainy weekend and how you feel by Sunday afternoon. Now imagine that for six months."

"Imagine every day staring at your front door and not being able to walk out your front door," Weiner said. "Through my experience, after a couple of weeks, people on home confinement start feeling very antsy."

Some who've been through home confinement say they'd prefer doing time at a low-level prison camp, with access to educational programs, work details and recreational facilities, Weiner said. "They say the day moves a whole lot quicker in a jail environment," he said.

Certainly, there are big pluses to home confinement. "You get to kiss your spouse good morning and good night," Weiner said. "You eat what and when you want. You don't have to share the TV. And you're safe -- you don't have fear of mental or physical assaults."

Also in this case, home confinement offered the best way to maintain Taricani's precarious health. Torres said he would have sentenced the reporter to prison if not for his health condition, which includes a transplanted heart and pacemaker.

Nonetheless, Weiner said, six months is a long time to be at home. "Think of where you were six months ago," he said. "Maybe you were out at the beach in June."

Antonio R. Freitas, the Providence businessman who went undercover to shoot the FBI videotape that Taricani aired, has twice been on home confinement, and he agrees it's no day at the beach.

"It's horrible," Freitas said. "It's a teaser. You are home, but you are still in prison."

In 2000, Freitas served 10 days in prison, followed by 60 days on home confinement, after pleading no contest to domestic assault charges. In 2001, he served four months in prison and several more months of home confinement for violating his domestic-violence probation, state officials said.

Freitas, owner of JKL Engineering on Westminster Street, said that, unlike Taricani, he was able to work, go to church and visit his lawyers during his home confinement. But he said limitations were always present. He had to call in every time he went out on the job, he had to be back home by 6 p.m., and he always had an electronic monitoring device around his ankle.

"You are not free," Freitas said. "You have that bracelet. They are monitoring you."

Given the choice between four months on home confinement or two months in prison, Freitas said, "I'd take prison. Anything to get it over with."

While Freitas was in the state community confinement program and Taricani is in the federal probation system, the frustrations are bound to be similar.

"You want what you cannot have," Freitas said. "You want to feel free to go to a restaurant, even if you really don't want to go to a restaurant."

The worst time comes at the end, Freitas said. "That last two weeks you get itchy," he said. "You want to celebrate, but in your mind you cannot have the celebration. In the last week, you're happy but aggravated. It's the slowest time in the world."

Freitas offered this advice to Taricani: "Do a lot of writing and reading. Take a light sleeping pill to sleep as long as you can. Get up late and exercise. Try not to think about the situation." Later, he added, "Watch who you have as friends. Watch who comes to see you."

Under one of the conditions set by Torres, Taricani can only have visitors between 2 and 4 p.m. and 6 and 8 p.m. Also, the judge said the reporter may not "engage in any business or profession."

So could Taricani write a book? Weiner said, "He couldn't write a book and have it published, because then I'd say he was working. He can't sign a contract or get an advance." But if Taricani wrote in a journal or kept notes, he said, "I'm not sure I could control that or that we have any right to deny that."

In an interview before he was sentenced, Taricani said he would be paid his full salary and benefits while he's serving the sentence.

But after a career in investigative journalism, Taricani won't be able to pursue stories or even talk about work matters on the phone, Weiner said. "Everything he knows in his professional life is on hold," he said.

Under another of the conditions added by Torres, Taricani is prohibited from using the Internet. Weiner said, "In my experience with white-collar type offenders, we have always gained the cooperation of the offender and his family to take the Internet out of the house, and I don't expect this case will be any different."

So what's left for Taricani to do? "He can read and watch TV," Weiner said. And there is no limitation on his telephone use.

The federal home confinement program has three levels of restriction. Curfew requires only that people be home at certain times of day. Home detention requires that people remain at home at all times except for preapproved absences, such as for work, school and church. Taricani is under home incarceration, which calls for 24-hour-a-day "lockdown" at home.

Torres has made it clear that he will put Taricani behind bars if he violates any of the conditions of home incarceration. On the other hand, the judge also told Taricani he might be released after four months if he follows all the rules.

The four months will be up at midnight April 8, and the six months will be up at midnight June 8, Weiner said.

About 18,000 federal defendants and offenders were on home confinement, under the supervision of U.S. probation and pretrial services officers, in fiscal year 2002. On an average day in Rhode Island, federal probation officers usually have 12 to 20 people on home confinement, Weiner said.

The state, meanwhile, has 215 people on home confinement, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Joy Fox said.